Windsor/Ontario - Canadian authorities removed the last protesters from the Ambassador Bridge and surrounding areas on Sunday after having to close the border crossing in Windsor, Ontario with barricades last week. The busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing was open Monday after protesters demonstrating against COVID-19 measures blocked it for nearly a week.

Police in Windsor, Ontario, arrested 25 to 30 protesters and towed several vehicles Sunday near the Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor and numerous Canadian automotive plants with Detroit.

Protesters began blocking bridge access Feb. 7 leasing to automakers to shut down or reduce production, when the industry is already struggling with pandemic-induced shortages of computer chips and other supply-chain disruptions. The crossing sees 25% of all trade between U.S.-Canada, estimated to be around $360 million a day in two-way cargoes.

In Ottawa, counter protests started stalling vehicles trying to join the protests on Sunday, with residents losing patience over the three-week-old demonstrations.

In the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the Pacific highway border crossing in Surrey was temporarily closed on Sunday afternoon, for a second day, by a group of about 200 protesters, according to a Reuters photographer on the scene. A small group of protesters gathered on U.S. side of the border, blocking incoming vehicles.

The Canadian government had earlier discussed on invoking special emergency powers to deal with the protests in the capital, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told CBC News on Sunday. The lack of police enforcement in Ottawa was "inexplicable", remarked Blair

The Emergencies Act, rarely used, would allow the federal government to override the provinces and authorize special temporary measures to ensure security during national emergencies anywhere in the country. It has only been used once in peacetime, by Trudeau's father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1970.

The estimated loss so far from the blockades to the auto industry alone could be as high as $850 million, based on IHS Markit's data, which puts the 2021 daily flow in vehicles and parts at $141.1 million a day.

In Europe, a convoy of 150 cars protesting COVID-19 restrictions left Paris on Sunday morning and headed towards Brussels, as reported by Reuters.
-Reuters