Four days after the blocking of the Ambassador Bridge, between Ontario and Detroit, in the United States, which is already disrupting the automobile industry on both sides of the border, another axis has been targeted by Canadian demonstrators, who are in the streets for almost two weeks.

“No traffic is possible” said the police of the province of Manitoba (center) Thursday morning because of a demonstration involving a “large number of vehicles and agricultural equipment” in Emerson.

This axis connects Manitoba to North Dakota.

This is "harming customers, autoworkers, suppliers, communities and businesses on both sides of the border, who have already been experiencing parts shortages for two years resulting from the world's lack of semiconductors, the Covid-19 and other elements," the Ford spokeswoman said.

Nearly 2.5 million trucks cross the Ambassador Bridge each year.

More than 25% of goods exported between the United States and Canada transit there.

“Our automotive, industrial and agricultural businesses are feeling the pinch,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday.

- "Lifting the blockade" -

The movement is spreading on the roads and seemed to be at an impasse in the streets of the federal capital Ottawa, noted an AFP journalist.

Farmers block Highway 402 near Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, February 10, 2022 Geoff Robins AFP

Hundreds of trucks are still blocking the streets, set up in front of Parliament and the offices of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who on Wednesday called the blockades "unacceptable" and a threat to the economy.

However, the police announced on Thursday that they had managed to "negotiate the departure" of around twenty trucks, some of which in the city center.

But most truckers repeat that they will not budge.

"The government has locked us up four or five times and now everyone is looking at those who are fighting for their rights and saying 'You are blocking the city'. But yes, we are doing it!", Ignites Greg Oates, a 49-year-old fisherman years old, came from Newfoundland and was determined to stay.

The latter, a brown beard, arrived in Ottawa ten days ago with his wife and two dogs.

Thursday morning, the interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Candice Bergen, so far a supporter of the movement, called on the demonstrators to stop their actions and return home.

“I believe it is time to lift the blockade for the good of the economy,” she told parliament.

- Convoys banned in Europe -

And on the spot, all watch with pride the development of the movement elsewhere.

"We thought we were only a few hundred trucks and now we have, somewhere, created a global movement. It's amazing," enthused Lloyd Brubacher, a trucker from Ontario.

Anti-health restrictions protesters block the way at the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the United States in Windsor, Ontario, on February 9, 2022 Geoff Robins AFP

In Europe, the authorities have taken the lead: rallies planned for the weekend have been banned, particularly in Paris and Brussels.

This movement, baptized as in Canada "freedom convoys", seems to be gaining momentum, especially in France to protest against the vaccination pass.

They claim to be "yellow vests", the popular mobilization of 2018-2019, triggered by a rise in gasoline prices which had turned into a revolt against President Emmanuel Macron.

In New Zealand, where anti-vaccine protesters have been gathering for three days near Parliament in Wellington, clashes broke out between police and protesters on Thursday.

More than 120 people were arrested.

The security forces intervened to disperse this gathering and in particular to dismantle the impromptu camp set up near Parliament.

Hundreds of campervans and trucks had blocked Wellington's Parliament district on Tuesday;

most left after 24 hours, but a hard core remained, determined to stay there "as long as necessary".

© 2022 AFP