Michigan Shuts Down Bridge to Canada Amid Trucker-Led Protests

Vehicles travel across the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, Michigan, on Nov. 8, 2021. T Nic Antaya/Getty Images

The state of Michigan closed down a bridge from Detroit to Canada in the midst of trucker-led protests over COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Truckers and other individuals started congregating on the Ambassador Bridge on Monday night. The busy crossing connects Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, Michigan.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) wrote on Twitter on Monday evening that it had closed the crossing to Canada.

At the same time, the Windsor Police Service wrote Tuesday that the bridge was reopened to traffic. However, MDOT’s Detroit Office confirmed Tuesday the crossing remains closed on the U.S. side, calling on travelers to use the Port Huron crossing.

Canada sends 75 percent of its goods exports to the United States, and the bridge usually handles around 8,000 trucks a day.

“We got sent here to send a message and the message isn’t getting through,” Ottawa protest spokesman Tom Marazzo told reporters on Monday about the bridge convoy, according to the Reuters news agency.

And Tuesday marked the 12th straight day of the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, as local officials this week attempted to take more drastic action against the trucker-led convoy by seizing their fuel. A judge also issued an order temporarily banning horn honking.

Canada’s embattled prime minister, Justin Trudeau, on Monday evening said that “Canadians have the right to protest, to disagree with their government” but claimed that the Ottawa trucker protest has gone too far.

Protesters in Ottawa as demonstrations against COVID-19 mandates and restrictions continue, on Feb. 7, 2022. Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times

“But let’s be clear: They don’t have the right to blockade our economy, or our democracy, or our fellow citizens’ daily lives. It has to stop,” he wrote. Several protesters online then accused Trudeau and his government of blocking the Canadian economy with vaccine mandates and passports.

Trudeau appeared in the public for the first time in about a week after he said he was infected with COVID-19, the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

The protesters have said they won’t leave until all COVID-19 vaccine mandates are removed across the country. The movement, which is spreading to other countries, was initiated over a policy that stipulated mandatory vaccinations for Canadian truckers who cross into the United States.

The Epoch Times has contacted MDOT for additional comment

Reuters contributed to this report.