Blockade eases on vital US-Canada bridge - but Freedom Convoy protest crowds swell in Ottawa

A tense standoff between protesters and police appears to have eased at a vital bridge linking the US and Canada – but demonstrations linked to the “Freedom Convoy” movement have swelled elsewhere.

Truckers opposed to vaccine mandates and coronavirus restrictions moved away from the Ambassador Bridge on Saturday, where they had been barricading the entrance to the busy international crossing.

But many protesters ended up reconvening nearby, meaning access from the Canadian side has now been affected for a sixth day running.

Elsewhere, the number of people protesting in Canada’s capital swelled on Saturday – as on previous weekends – with thousands descending on Ottawa to join truckers who have been encamped outside parliament for weeks.

The movement has triggered other convoys around the world – including in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Freedom Convoy initially began as a protest against vaccine requirements for lorry drivers travelling across the border into the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is coming under pressure to take further action against the protesters, who he says represent a “fringe” of society.

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A former member of his cabinet, Catherine McKenna, has taken the unusual step of speaking out against the government’s handling of the crisis.

She tweeted: “No one – not the city, the province or the federal government – can seem to get their act together to end this illegal occupation. It’s appalling. … Just get your act together. Now.”

US correspondent

Maxime Bernier, the leader of the right-wing People’s Party of Canada, is a popular man at the Ottawa protests.

He’s been here every weekend giving speeches to the crowd, and will host a “pancake breakfast” on Sunday.

As we walk along one of the roads leading to the main protest site, he is stopped every few metres by someone wanting to shake his hand or even pass them his baby to hold.

In the first week of the Freedom Convoy protests, Nazi flags were seen in the crowd – but Bernier denies the movement has become a rallying cry for far-right groups around the world.

“No it is not. I was here that weekend and there was one guy in the crowd with a Confederate flag,” he says. “This is not a far-right movement, it is people fighting to regain their freedom. That is it.”

One thing that has become apparent is how committed the core demonstrators are.

At Ambassador Bridge, more than 100 protesters had remained overnight and into the early hours of Saturday despite the threat of arrest and police repeatedly trying to move them on.

Meanwhile in Ottawa, thousands braved temperatures of -22C and flooded into the downtown district. Their resolve, seemingly, has only grown stronger.

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