Truckers in US said to be forming own protest

An anti-vaccine mandate demonstration by truckers similar to the one that has paralyzed Ottawa may be moving south as US truckers are forming a convoy that will travel from California to Washington DC, according to media reports.

The route and timing of the demonstration will be announced Tuesday evening, said Brian Brase, a trucker who is organizing the American effort. The New York Times said he declined to comment on details of the convoy until an official announcement was made.

According to messages posted on social media, the route may start in Sacramento, California, and end in the nation's capital.

Brase, a third-generation trucker, told the Times that the US convoy was meant to show support for American healthcare workers, police and military personnel who are facing vaccine mandates.

Dubbed the "People's Convoy", he said "it is for everyone and to support the loved ones of truckers while we are on the road".

Ottawa is in a state of emergency as thousands of protesters in trucks opposed to the government's vaccine mandate continue to paralyze the center of the Canadian capital.

A mandate issued by the US Homeland Security Department requires that non-US essential workers such as truck drivers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. If they aren't fully vaccinated, they won't be allowed to cross land borders, from Canada or Mexico.

The American Truckers formed a Facebook group that had 130,000 members until it was taken off the social media platform amid allegations that the movement was being promoted by right-wing extremists, which the organizers deny, MSN reported Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Facebook's parent company, Meta, told Fox News in a statement: "We have removed this group for repeatedly violating our policies around QAnon." In October 2020, Facebook labeled QAnon a "violence-inducing conspiracy network" and announced group pages and administrators tied to QAnon would be removed.

A page on the site states that they support freedom and they have had it with the mandates, according to the Times.

"We are part of many large groups who believe in our founding fathers. We believe everyone has a voice. We support our freedom. Help us spread the word about this group and together we all can make it a better place... God Bless America," the page reads.

Over the last two weeks, activists have shifted from calling for supplies to be sent to Canada, to trying to mobilize and support a convoy of truckers in the US, according to social media conversations viewed by the Times.

Anti-vaccine mandate activists have formed dozens of chat groups in each state, with many dedicated to specific counties, according to the Times, which said members of the groups are trying to build local support and gather supplies for the truckers as they pass through.

"It's time for us to fight this war the enemy has declared," the person wrote on Facebook, underneath a post that suggested that the truckers' convoy in the United States could disrupt everything from postal routes to the supply chain that delivers food to supermarkets.

Wrote another member of the group: "Brace yourselves, let's make this big enough so every American feels it."