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| Photo by Emily Elconin/Getty Images |
A 38,000 trucker convoy is heading to Washington, DC, from Los Angeles to protest pandemic mandates just in time for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address on March 1.
Kyle Sefcik, organizer and leader of the Freedom Convoy USA 2022, told WUSA CBS 9 that he is scheduled to leave Los Angeles on Friday and drive to D.C. The peaceful convoy will be composed of trucks and motorcycles and does not intend to gather at the Capitol. Instead, the convoy will protest near the White House and the National Mall with Christian bands and preachers.
“We want to be there for that and tell the president we’re here,” Sefcik told the local outlet. “This doesn’t even need to happen. If the president said, ‘Mandates are over and the state of emergency is over. Let’s get back to the world and let’s do our thing,’ then we’re not even coming.”
“We have to get the attention in the most peaceful way and this is our way of doing it,” Sefcik continued. “Do we want to stop businesses from being able to be open and people being able to get to work and school? No. We don’t want to cause this at all which is why we’re telling the president ahead of time to end this now. We don’t even have to come.”
Sefcik told the outlet that convoy could disrupt major corridors of the greater Maryland and northern Virginia area and roads that serve as a major commuting passageway and route for commercial deliveries into the district. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite |
The Pentagon has approved the deployment of 700 unarmed National Guard troops to the nation’s capital as it prepares for trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning next week.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the request Tuesday from the District of Columbia government and the U.S. Capitol Police, the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday night.
The troops would be used to assist with traffic control during demonstrations expected in the city in the coming days, the Pentagon said. Four hundred Guard members from the District of Columbia Guard will be joined by 300 Guard members from other states, according to the statement.
Guard members will not carry firearms or take part in law enforcement or domestic-surveillance activities, the Pentagon said.
Modeled after recent trucker protests in Canada, separate truck convoys have been planned through online forums with names like the People’s Convoy and the American Truckers Freedom Fund - all with different starting points, departure dates and routes. Some are scheduled to arrive in time for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1, though others may arrive afterward.
The convoys follow the recent Canadian truckers’ protest which shut down the busiest U.S. Canadian border crossing and besieged the streets of the capital, Ottawa, for weeks to protest government pandemic restrictions. The multiple blockades were broken up by police last week, with more than 100 arrests. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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