At about 8pm Wednesday evening, the Nova Scotia RCMP started to make arrests at the highway blockade that had shut down the TransCanada highway since Wednesday morning.
By 10:20pm, the force tweeted out that traffic was restored in both directions on the 104.
This morning Nova Scotia Health tweeted to say that the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre in Amherst is now back operating at full capacity. The centre had been reduced to emergency services only during the blockade.
According to CBC news, there were about 150 protesters and bystanders gathered at the blockade by the time the police moved in Wednesday evening. Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson Chris Marshall told the CBC shortly after 9pm that the force was working on clearing protestors that were willing to leave, “and if not, they’re being arrested.”
CBC News said that after the blockade was cleared, the mood at the scene “turned light.” Throughout the day, media reported scuffles and conflicts between between protesters and truck drivers, protesters and police, and different groups of protesters.
The tone of the protesters documented in videos online diverges from that of the smaller group gathered on the New Brunswick side of the border on Tuesday evening, shortly after Nova Scotia’s announcement.
At least one blockade protester called for the stopping of “vaxx trucks” referring to a truck that she believed was transporting doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Another protester told reporters she had travelled to Ontario many times throughout the pandemic without self-isolating upon return. A private Facebook group with over 5000 members has been a major communications hub for a number of border protests since the spring. Whereas early on, the group organizers had asked members to avoid topics such as vaccines to focus on intra-provincial isolation requirements, the group has since became openly anti-vaccine.
PREMIERS MEET, RANKIN COMMITS TO JUNE 30 RETURN FOR NB
At a briefing on another topic yesterday, Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin told reporters that the province’s plan was for New Brunswick to be “back in the bubble” by June 30. That timeline, however, appears nowhere on the Nova Scotia government website.
“We’re asking for a week,” Rankin told reporters. “I think that it’s a reasonable plan to just wait for that week. June 30th, New Brunswick will be back in the bubble is the plan, and no more self isolation, no testing requirements. But we need that extra week. Dr. Strang asked for that. And I accepted his advice.”
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs met with Rankin and the other Atlantic premiers on Wednesday night, and told reporters he has offered to share traveller information collected at New Brunswick borders with Nova Scotia.
