MSNBC Reports It Has Taken Fewer Than 100 People to Shut Down the Ambassador Bridge
MSNBC’s Cal Perry reported on Friday that a major bridge between Canada and the U.S. is being blocked by fewer than 100 protestors.
The Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, has been shut down for five days as part of the larger so-called “Freedom Convoy” protest.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) issued a statement on Thursday in which she decried the economic impact the bridge blockade is having on the economies in both countries:
My message is simple: Reopen traffic on the bridge.
In Michigan, our economy continues to grow because of our hardworking people and innovative small businesses. Now, that momentum is at risk. Commercial traffic is at a standstill at the Ambassador Bridge and heavily backed up at the Blue Water Bridge.
The blockade is having a significant impact on Michigan’s working families who are just trying to do their jobs. Our communities and automotive, manufacturing and agriculture businesses are feeling the effects. It’s hitting paychecks and production lines. That is unacceptable.
As Whitmer noted, the Ambassador Bridge is “the busiest land border crossing in North America” and is used by “tens of thousands of commuters and truck drivers carrying hundreds of millions of dollars of goods every day.”
An estimated $325 million in goods cross the bridge every day, but its closure has brought trade between the two countries to a standstill, and has grabbed international attention.
On Deadline: White House Friday, Perry reported from the site of the protest with a surprising revelation.
Citing a “shared ideology” between the protesters in Canada and conservatives in the U.S., Perry took a shot at Fox News and the broader “right-wing media in the U.S.”
Perry then said he observed some of the protesters who were watching Fox News at a McDonald’s in Windsor.
He then reported on the stunningly low number of them it has taken to shut down an international border.
“The fact is, there were less than 100 people here, and there have been less than 100 people here for five days,” Perry said. “And the attention that this protest has been able to get and the effect that it has had — hundreds of millions of dollars a day, according to the mayor here — is something that is spurring people here on.”
It is not clear exactly how many trucks are snarling traffic, but the Detroit Free Press reported a single truck has closed inbound traffic into Canada:
Early Friday, demonstrators in Windsor began moving trucks to open a single lane on the bridge. But after it was cleared, a protester zipped his truck in to block it, then got out and told other protesters to “Hold the line,” adding to the protest confusion and uncertainty about what would come next.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
