Canada border blockade clearing peacefully as police move in

WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) – A tense standoff at a U.S.-Canadian border crossing crucial to both countries’ economies appears to be dissolving peacefully as Canadian police move in to disperse the nearly weeklong protest and demonstrators begin leaving without resistance.

Protesters had spent the night at the busiest crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, in a blockade that has disrupted the flow of traffic and goods and forced the auto industry on both sides to roll back production.

Protests against pandemic restrictions in Canada have reverberated outside the country: Similarly inspired protests were seen in France and the Netherlands on Saturday, in addition to one launched earlier this week in New Zealand.