US truckers plan own ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests following Canada’s model

US truckers are reportedly planning their “Freedom Convoy” protests against what they refer to as “unlawful [COVID-19] mandates” after similar protests in Canada drew international support from anti-vaccine activists.

According to the Facebook group, Kansas Truckers for Freedom Convoy, US-based truck drivers will leave a truck stop on March 3 in Aurora, Colorado before taking major cross-country Interstate-70 highway across the state of Kansas, stopping for the night in city of Salina, and then heading into the state of Missouri through Kansas City.

The truck convoy will then live Salina on the morning of March 4 and “slow roll” through the cities of Junction City and Topeka for truckers to stop and collect donations, the groups added, encouraging “peaceful supporters” to participate in donating to the cause.

The group further states that the convoy will then drive across Missouri, and after making a stop in the mid-western state of Illinois, will head to the neighboring state of Indiana, where the convoy will wait for other truckers to arrive from northern routes.

The Kansas Truckers for Freedom Convoy group further emphasized that it is “standing up for freedoms” and is dedicated to fighting “unlawful mandates” peacefully and effectively.

According to various right-wing news outlets in the US, protesting truck convoys from across the country intend to eventually converge into Washington DC – where the nation’s President Joe Biden is due to deliver his annual State of the Union address in Congress on March 1.

The development came after American Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky declared last week that he hopes anti-vaccine protesters in trucks would "clog up [US] cities" amid a warning by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that a convoy of anti-vaccine truckers may soon begin in the country.

US Senator Rand Paul urges truckers to ‘clog up [American] cities’

Republican US Senator Rand Paul says he hopes anti-vaccine protesters in trucks "clog up [American] cities" amid a warning by authorities that a convoy of anti-vaccine truckers may soon begin in the country.

"I’m all for it," said Paul, a vocal critic of masking and vaccine mandates during an interview with conservative news outlet Daily Signal. "I hope the truckers do come to America, and I hope they clog up cities."

This is while the DHS issued a bulletin earlier in the week warning US law enforcement agencies that a convoy of truckers protesting vaccine mandates, similar to protests in Canada, could begin soon in the US, noting that the convoy could "begin in California as early as mid-February and arrive in Washington DC as late as mid-March."

"Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in our country, from slavery to civil rights to you name it. Peaceful protest, clog things up, make people think about the mandates," the US lawmaker further added while discussing the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” protest effort against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions that saw trucks and other vehicles blocking roads and portions of the busiest US-Canada border crossing for several days.

The Republican senator further went on to blame the Biden administration for instituting nationwide mandates and sparking the protest efforts against mandatory vaccines and masks.

“And some of this, we started,” Paul emphasized. “We put [COVID-19] mandates on truckers coming across the border from Canada so then they put mandates on, and the truckers are annoyed. They’re riding in a cab by themselves, most of them for eight, 10-hour long hauls, and they just want to do what they want to do. It’s their own business.”

The “Freedom Convoy” protests originally started in late January across Canada, garnering international attention and leading to similar anti-vaccine mandate protest in France and elsewhere in Europe.

The Canadian movement received major support from conservative and right-wind American anti-vaccine activists, drawing complaint from Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has asked lawmakers to invoke emergency powers to halt the protests.

Meanwhile, the “Freedom Convoy” protests across Canada turned violent on Friday as police authorities alleged that protesters assaulted officers and tried to remove their weapons.

Canada begins crackdown on protests with arrest of over 100 people

Canadian forces have begun an unprecedented operation to remove protesters and their trucks and cars in Ottawa, arresting more than 100 protesters and towing their vehicles.

City, provincial and federal law enforcement officers began an unprecedented operation on Friday morning to remove protesters and their trucks and cars that have been blockading Ottawa's streets for weeks, arresting more than 100 protesters and towing 21 vehicles, local press outlets reported.

"You must leave. You must cease further unlawful activity and immediately remove your vehicle and/or property from all unlawful protest sites," police authorities warned on three occasions via Twitter posts on Friday night. "Anyone within the unlawful protest site may be arrested."

Interim Ottawa Police Chief Steve Bell had declared earlier in an afternoon news conference that authorities would work all day and all night to move protesters out.

"We're in control of the situation on the ground and continue to push forward to clear our streets," he emphasized.

However, although several trucks and cars have voluntarily left the protest venue, dozens continue to block streets in and around the Parliament, according to press reports.

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