American truckers want to “jumpstart the economy” and reopen the country.
QUICK FACTS:
- Organizers of the “People’s Convoy” say they want to “jumpstart the economy” and reopen the country, Reuters reports.
- “It is now time to reopen the country,” the protest organizers said in a statement.
- Their 11-day trek will approach the Beltway around the U.S. capital on March 5 “but will not be going into D.C. proper,” according to a statement from the group.
- U.S. truckers on Wednesday plan to embark on a 2,500-mile (4,000-km) cross-country drive toward Washington D.C. to protest coronavirus restrictions, Reuters notes.
- Another convoy is expected to leave Scranton, Pennsylvania—Joe Biden’s hometown—on Wednesday morning and arrive on the 495 Beltway (highway) in Washington sometime during the afternoon.
- Organizer Bob Bolus commented that his convoy has no intention to break laws or block traffic.
- Bolus did warn that blockades could happen, however, if their demands regarding pandemic mandates and the cost of fuel are not meant.
- “They are not going to intimidate us and they are not going to threaten us. We’re the power, not them,” he said.
- Organizers bill the convoy as nonpartisan, trucker-led, and supported by a wide range of ethnic minorities and religious faiths, Reuters notes.
WHAT TRUCKERS ARE SAYING:
- Brian Brase, a truck driver who is one of the organizers, said regardless of where the trucks stop “we’re not going anywhere” until the group’s demands are met, Reuters reports, those demands including an end to COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements.
- “We plan to stay a while and hope they don’t escalate it the way Trudeau did with his disgusting government overreach,” Brase said from Adelanto, California, where the convoy will begin, about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Los Angeles.
- Brase also said he expected thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, would participate.
BACKGROUND:
- The American truckers are modeling their convoy after similar demonstrations in Canada.
- The Canadian demonstration was so consequential that the Pentagon said on Tuesday it had approved 400 D.C. National Guard troops to “provide support at designated traffic posts, provide command and control, and cover sustainment requirements” from Feb 26 through March 7, according to Reuters.
- About 50 large tactical vehicles were also approved to be placed at traffic posts.
