Key US-Canada bridge reopens after police clear protesters

The busiest US-Canada border bridge that’s been shuttered for days reopened on Sunday night after police cleared protesters who had been demonstrating against COVID-19 restrictions.

By 10 p.m., the Ambassador Bridge – which links Windsor, Ontario and Detroit – was “fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again,” a spokesperson for Detroit International Bridge Co. told The Associated Press.

Earlier Sunday, more than two dozen people had been peacefully arrested, seven vehicles towed and five seized as officers cleared the last demonstrators who had been blocking the road to the bridge, authorities said.

“Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador bridge came to an end,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said after the arrests.

For days, the protests have choked the key passageway between the US and Canada and halted production at auto plants on both sides of the border.

The crossing normally carries 25% of all trade between the two countries.