Freedom Convoy 2022 in Washington: Special Report
Hundreds of trucks, cars and off-highway trucks lined the highway in long column to protest against the vaccination mandates.
On March 10, a column of vehicles called «Freedom Convoy» drove along the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland, about 130 km northwest of downtown Washington. Whattatruck correspondents managed to talk to the participants of the convoy.
Brian Brace, the organizer of the convoy, stated that their plan is to go around the Beltway twice before returning to the Hagerstown Speedway. Each day, the convoy will repeat this ritual until the group’s demands are met.
It’s difficult to calculate the scale of the convoy, but it’s no less than 300 trucks. Despite the cold spring weather, people in their cars joined the convoy. «If at first it was 30 trucks and other cars, now there are several hundreds,» trucker Steve from Arizona told Whattatruck.
«People sleep in truck cabs, people support each other, this is a real PEOPLE convoy!» he added.
«Participants take turns, when someone is forced to go to their families, others join the convoy. At the moment we have from 250 to 300 trucks. But after all, we travel all over the country and sometimes our column consisted of up to 800 vehicles. It’s one thing for me to ride in a comfortable truck, I have a TV and a bed there, and another thing for people in the cars. It can be very cold at night, but they’re dedicated to their views and want changes here,» said Stan from Dallas TX.
As a reminder, the initial movement of the convoy was created to protest against vaccination mandates when crossing the US border, but later turned into a protest against COVID-19 mandates in general.
«The Convoy started in California, we cross all of the states on Interstate 40, 44 and 70» told Whattatruck Art from California.
Robert, Pennsylvania: «We want to end mandates because these are our bodies and our rights.»
Starting on January 22, hundreds of vehicles formed columns from several points and crossed the Canadian provinces before converging in Ottawa on January 29, 2022, holding a rally on Parliament Hill. Thousands of pedestrian protesters joined the columns. Several offshoots of the protests blockaded provincial capitals and border crossings with the United States.
Stan, Dallas TX: «What we here for is basically to take our country back, it’s being hijacked by other mentalities, people that don’t share our beliefs and our feelings.»
Organizers are working with local law enforcement to determine periods of the week that will have the least impact on traffic. They will impose a minimum speed limit and increase the number of loops around the ring road each day to put pressure on lawmakers and government officials.
