Canada's City of Windsor Asks Extra Police Deployment to Deal With Border Protests

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The city of Windsor in the Canadian province of Ontario on Wednesday requested additional police deployment to deal with trucker protests blocking traffic at the Ambassador Bridge on the border with the United States, Mayor Drew Dilkens said on Wednesday.

"While we are hopeful the situation can be resolved in the near term, we need to plan for a protracted protest and have requested additional personnel to be deployed to Windsor to support our hard-working members of the police service," he said.

Canadian state broadcaster CBC News reported that the bridge was blocked on Monday night. The protesters have halted access to Canada, and are keeping one lane open for those traveling into the United States, according to the report.

The wave of protests across Canada began in January, with thousands of truckers and other demonstrators converging upon Ottawa to express strong opposition to vaccine mandates for truckers crossing the US-Canada border. The protest has since evolved into an anti-government demonstration, with various groups uniting in opposition of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.