“People’s Convoy” Heading to Washington DC to Protest Mandates
From TrialSiteNews.com By Trial Site Staff February 23, 2022
Following on the heels of Canada’s Freedom Convoy, truckers in the United States are revving up their own “People’s Convoy.”
Truckers Plan Convoy From California to D.C.
The group of American truck drivers protesting vaccine mandates plans to start a rolling protest in California that will drive through states including Texas, Oklahoma, and Maryland, and arrive in Washington DC by March 5. Some anti-mandate protestors have pledged to be in Washington in time for President Biden’s State of the Union speech scheduled for March 1.
U.S. Protestors and Authorities Take a Page From Canada
Mindful of the national disruptions caused by the Ottawa and Ontario protests in Canada, the Washington D.C. mayor has activated the National Guard through the month of March.
The truckers have requested a permit from the National Park Service allowing between 1,000 and 3,000 people to assemble in the nation’s capital.
In anticipation of the protest, tow trucks were reportedly spotted along the National Mall, and the Capitol Police and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office have been monitoring the protest.
Paul Alexander’s Canadian Protest Testimonial
Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Elias Alexander was at the trucker protest in Ottawa and claims the media interpretation of the events in the Canadian capital was misconstrued.
“The convoy was very peaceful in Canada and the police worked with the truckers for three weeks peacefully and lovingly,” he said. “I was there. I have many photos and videos. There is word that the local police stood down and many refused and I can tell you they spoke to me and are on the side of the trucker.”
But then, Alexander said, law enforcement officials’ behavior changed.
“Something went wrong and the government aggressively moved on the truckers and protestors,” Alexander said. “I cannot agree with this and it was devastating. Word is that forces from outside the capital were brought into effect this crackdown. I have nothing but praise for the police overall, and those in Ottawa – it is the government that has taken a line that is wrong.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the protestors a “fringe minority,” but Trudeau has been criticized for his handling of the demonstration and his popularity has suffered among Canadians. Trudeau was accused of tyranny for invoking his country’s Emergencies Act, freezing the bank accounts – and even cryptocurrency wallets – of hundreds of the organizers of the protests. The protesters’ bank accounts were unfrozen on February 22.
Dr. Alexander, who is Canadian, believes his government overreacted and supports the People’s Convoy in the United States.
No Justification for Mandates and Lockdowns
“The time has come to terminate the pandemic state of emergency. It is time to end the controls, the closures, the restrictions, the plexiglass, the stickers, the exhortations, the panic-mongering, the distancing announcements, the ubiquitous commercials, the forced masking, the vaccine mandates,” said Alexander. “We don’t mean that the virus is gone – omicron is still spreading wildly, and the virus may circulate forever. But with a normal focus on protecting the vulnerable, we can treat the virus as a medical rather than a social matter and manage it in ordinary ways.
Alexander said that with the most virulent forms of the coronavirus receding, and fewer hospitalizations and deaths due to infection, ”there is no justification for maintaining emergency status. The lockdowns, personnel firings, work shortages, and school disruptions have done at least as much damage to the population’s health and welfare as the virus.”
Mandates are not the only thing the truckers plan to protest. Some say they will speak out against economic policies that have disrupted supply chains, increased fuel prices, and endangered their jobs.
Although the American convoy says it is not their intention to disrupt traffic in Washington D.C. some observers fear the action could tie up the Beltway, which is notorious for snarled traffic even in normal times.