American truckers, who collectively call themselves as the "People's Convoy," have affirmed plans to push through with their protest drive to Washington, D.C. against the vaccine mandates of President Joe Biden in the same spirit as Canada's Freedom Convoy.
Right Side Broadcasting Network reported that the People's Convoy have scheduled their roll out on February 23 with the goal to make lawmakers realize the need to end the said mandates.
Early this month, a group of American truckers have signified their intent to mirror the efforts of Canadian truckers who converged in Ottawa to protest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's COVID-19 mandates. The truckers said that they planned to launch the convoy from California to Washington, D.C. However, the group was censored from Facebook's platform after being tagged as "QAnon."
People's Convoy National Organizer Maureen Steele told Newsmax that around 1,000 trucks will be coming from Barstow, California.
She could not disclose the exact starting point due to "paramount" security reasons, but said the names of the towns they will be passing by on the way to Washington, D.C. will be announced a day before they arrive there as precautionary measure.
"We're going to be starting the convoy out of Barstow, California. The Canadian convoy was pretty organic when it happened. Ours, they had a month's notice, so our concern is disruptive groups coming in. We're trying to just prepare for counter-protests and to take safety precautions for that," Steele said.
The People's Convoy have setup a website for truckers to register themselves and their license plates for the convoy. They also have a fundraiser at GoFundMe just like Freedom Convoy, on top of a Facebook Group Page with 141,300 members.
"So we know exactly who is in the convoy and to make sure that it's going to be a safe ride," Steele explained regarding the registration.
As of now, Steele has revealed they will be stopping by Arizona and Texas. There will also be a few trucks ahead of the convoy "to check in with law enforcement in towns ahead of the convoy, that if we're going to be marshaling there that evening, to make sure they're prepared for a massive convoy to roll into town."
People's Convoy, in a statement released on Monday, stressed that the convoy is a "peaceful and law-abiding transcontinental journey toward the east coast." The truckers will come from Southern California's Adelanto Stadium on Wednesday, which will begin at 10:00 am with a short program to encourage and bless those present.
The program will include talks from FLCCC President Dr. Pierre Kory and Godspeak Church Pastor Rob McCoy. As such, they anticipate many "freedom-loving supporters from all walks of life" will also be present on this day.
"This convoy is about freedom and unity: the truckers are riding unified across party and state lines and with people of all colors and creeds--Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Mormons, Agnostics, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Republican, Democrats," the statement said.
"The message of The People's Convoy is simple. The last 23 months of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a rough road for all Americans to travel: spiritually, emotionally, physically, and - not least - financially. With the advent of the vaccine and workable therapeutic agents, along with the hard work of so many sectors that contributed to declining COVID-19 cases and severity of illness, it is now time to re-open the country," it added.
The American truckers said in a Feb. 8 statement that they expect to arrive in D.C. On March 4.
Last week, evangelist Franklin Graham asked for prayers for the Freedom Convoy, who have been facing the Canadian government's crackdown. Trudeau has invoked the "Emergencies Act" to allegedly "restore order" from the peaceful protests.
The protests were dispersed Sunday when police cleared out the vehicles in Ottawa. The Freedom Convoy had ripple effects across the globe as similar efforts have been initiated in other countries such as Israel and Italy.
