Niagara Falls, N.Y. (WBEN) - In yet another orchestrated attempt to call attention to the ongoing border closure between the United States and Canada for more than a year, dozens rallied on both sides of the Rainbow Bridge Saturday.
Noisy demonstrators from both sides of the border converged in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge Saturday afternoon chanting, "Open the border."
Members of the Families are Essential group rallied and say it has been 462 days since thousands of binational families in New York and across the country have had their lives torn apart. Husbands and wives, couples, children, grandparents, and siblings, they say, have not seen each other since March 2020, they say.
Marcella Picone, who is separated from he fance' by the border, tells WBEN, "Today was about exposing the crisis at the northern border it was great to see our friends and loved ones on the Canadian side but it felt more like the Berlin wall with barricades."
"This is no longer a public health crisis it's now a human rights crisis and Biden our president has abandon us as US citizens and he has abandoned Canada."
Demonstrators point to the fact that medical experts on both sides of the border have said that it is safe for vaccinated people to travel and say Europe and the Caribbean are open to Americans and Canadians, yet they cannot drive 15 minutes across the Rainbow Bridge.
While some restrictions on Canadian citizens and full time residents have been eased, the border remains closed for non-essential travel through July 21.
