A caravan of truckers left California on Friday to protest coronavirus mandats. It arrived in Las Vegas early Saturday morning with just five trucks, according to organizers.
The Freedom Convoy USA 2022 caravan was one of many in the United States. It was modeled after the Canadian protests that drove this week towards Washington to demand that, among other things: an end the pandemic that began in March 2020 and that government rules that required masks and vaccinations be ended.
According to its Facebook page, the Freedom Convoy’s route started in Los Angeles on Friday and was scheduled to make stops in Salt Lake City, Denver and other major cities before arriving in Washington on March 1 in time for President Biden’s State of the Union address. But it appeared that the group couldn’t hold on to its supporters for long.
“There are two other convoys that have massive turnouts, and are in progress to the D.C. area as we speak,” the organizers wrote on Facebook early Saturday, referring to two groups called the People’s Convoy and the Texas Convoy.
“We are making the decision to send any truckers planned to meet at our routes to start heading to D.C. for the event on the National Mall, or to join the convoys named above as they are about to merge into one,” the organizers wrote.
Mixed reactions were generated by the decision.
“I spent days trying to coordinate a rally in support of our truckers. I have three little children and work a full time job. It was exhausting and made me look stupid. I’m pretty hurt by all this,” one person commented on the post.
“I think all of the convoys merging together will have a much bigger impact than several smaller convoys. The bigger, the better,” a second person wrote.
Another convoy left Wednesday morning from Adelanto (Calif.), about 80 miles northeast Los Angeles. About 40 truckers were involved in the rollout, while about 100 more vehicles attended a rally that looked a lot like Make America Great Again.
Many of the demonstrators appeared to be affiliated with far-right activists and organizations, while others had connections to the Jan. 6, Capitol attack.
Brian Brase is a convoy spokesperson and truck driver from Ohio. He said that the motorcade was expected grow as the trucks travel across the country. “We believe tens of thousands will join in,” he said.
According to The Associated Press, the Pentagon approved the deployment of 700 unarmed National Guard soldiers to Washington, D.C. to help with traffic control during demonstrations.
Source: NY Times
