The busiest US-Canada border crossing has reopened after protests against Covid-19 restrictions closed it for almost a week.
Detroit International Bridge Co. said in a statement on Sunday that “the Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again.”
Esther Jentzen, spokesperson for the company, said the bridge reopened to traffic at 11pm Eastern Time.
The crossing normally carries 25 percent of all trade between the two countries, and the blockade on the Canadian side had disrupted business in both countries, with automakers forced to shut down several assembly plants.
Canada’s industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, welcomed the development, saying on Twitter: “Good news. Glad to see that the Ambassador Bridge is now reopened.”
READ MORE: Canada truckers' protest grows, fuels similar campaigns abroad
Over two dozen arrested
Police in Windsor, Ontario, said earlier in the day that more than two dozen people had been peacefully arrested, seven vehicles towed and five seized as officers cleared the last demonstrators from near the bridge, which links the city - and numerous Canadian automotive plants - with Detroit.
The protest in Ottawa, meanwhile, has paralysed downtown, infuriated residents who are fed up with police inaction and turned up pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who presided at a Cabinet meeting late Sunday.
The demonstrations have reverberated across Canada and beyond, with similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands.
Trudeau has called the protesters a “fringe” of Canadian society.
On Friday, a judge ordered an end to the blockade at the crossing in Windsor and Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency allowing for fines of 100,000 Canadian dollars and up to one year in jail for anyone illegally blocking roads, bridges, walkways and other critical infrastructure.
US President Joe Biden’s administration on Sunday acknowledged the seemingly peaceful resolution to the demonstration, which it said had “widespread damaging impacts” on the “lives and livelihoods of people” on both sides of the border.
“We stand ready to support our Canadian partners wherever useful in order to ensure the restoration of the normal free flow of commerce can resume,” Homeland Security Advisor Dr Liz Sherwood-Randall said in a statement.
READ MORE: Canada police arrest remaining protesters blocking key bridge to US
READ MORE:Canadian police start to clear key bridge from demonstrators
