Traffic along Huron Church Road remains congested this morning, as demonstrators continue to block traffic.
Windsor Police say the exit from the Ambassador Bridge onto Huron Church is “temporarily interrupted” in both directions due to the presence of protesters, and they're continuing to advise drivers to avoid the area or find alternate route if possible.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Mayor Drew Dilkens says it's a disturbing situation when you see the busiest trade corridor between the U.S. and Canada blocked.
"Thankfully there is access to the United States on Wyandotte Street right now for truckers to be able to get into the U.S. but access to Canada of course is blocked. We live in a democracy I get that people have the right to protest and demonstrate, but at the same time we also have to appreciate that there are a lot of families who rely on this border crossing. A lot of mouths that are fed because of smooth and efficient trade."
Dilkens says police are doing all that they can to work with the protestors, because they don't want to see this ramp up to an Ottawa style protest.
"Police are taking a very tactical approach and doing all they can to try and find a way forward here," he continued. "But right now its peaceful, right now they're working through a number of issues and we're going to do everything that we can to make sure that it does not escalate."
He says that local police have issued a number of tickets already, and there have been some incidents that police have had to work through as well with the protestors.
"Some of the group tried to commandeer the Assumption High School parking lot and police were able to work through a solution there to get folks to move on. But it was not without some element of risk and some high tension that was created. At the end of day, we don't want anyone to get hurt, we want our police officers to come in and do their jobs and go home to their families. And we want these folks to be able to go home to their families," Dilkens added.
Dilkens says the focus is finding a peaceful resolution to the situation, and not doing anything to escalate the situation that could draw more people to the region.