Police from London, Ontario, block protesters from the Ambassador Bridge on Saturday

The busiest US-Canada border crossing reopened late Sunday after protests against COVID-19 restrictions closed it for almost a week, while Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.

Iran PressAmerica: Detroit International Bridge Co. said in a statement that "the Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again." Esther Jentzen, the spokeswoman for the company, said in a later text to The Associated Press that the bridge reopened to traffic at 11 p.m. EST.

Police on Sunday swept through the lingering protest that has brought a week of chaos to the massive bridge linking Detroit to Canada, arresting a few truckers and other protesters still attempting to block the nation's largest border crossing.

Police said earlier in the day, about a dozen arrests were made, and several vehicles were seized and towed away.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens thanked authorities "for their determined, yet compassionate" efforts to end the standoff. The bridge closure has fueled angry social media commentary, mostly aimed at authorities, severely hampered US-Canada trade; and prompted the auto industry to scale back production in both countries.

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