The United States Capitol complex will yet again be sealed from the public with an unscalable fence ahead of President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address on March 1. The move comes amid growing fears of Ottawa-style Freedom Convoy protests in Washington, D.C.
The “most popular” president should be surrounded with “extra security” from the truckers and their sympathizers who would like to see all COVID-related mandates dropped, so the Capitol Police will be reinstalling the fence around the Capitol, according to a report from Fox News. The D.C. National Guard is on standby, too.
From Fox’s report:
Security officials will reinstall fencing around the Capitol next week ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address, Fox News can confirm.
U.S. Capitol Police are bracing for a potential “Freedom Convoy” truck protest to Washington, D.C., for the March 1 speech.…
Capitol Police say they are “aware” of similar protests coming to Washington, D.C., and are making plans to both “facilitate” First Amendment protest activity while working with law enforcement agencies and the D.C. National Guard to prepare for Biden’s address.
Indeed, according to the United States Capitol Police’s Friday press release entitled “USCP Plans for Extra Security Ahead of the Joint Session of Congress,” “a series of truck convoys” is expected to make its way to the nation’s capital “around the time of the State of the Union.”
The release simply noted a possibility of the fencing being reinstalled: “The temporary inner-perimeter fence is part of those ongoing discussions and remains an option, however at this time no decision has been made.” However, Fox News has since confirmed that the fence will be going up again.
A razor-wire-topped, seven-foot-tall barrier had remained around the Capitol for months after the January 6, 2021 events in Washington, D.C. It was removed in July, but then reinstalled in September ahead of a planned “Justice for J6” rally in support of the people charged in connection with the January 6 violence. It was taken down again the next day.
In addition to reinstalling the fence, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., will deploy its civil disturbance teams from February 23 to March 1 in anticipation of the trucker convoys, according to WUSA9.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memo claiming protesters were “planning to potentially block roads in major metropolitan cities in the United States in protest of, among other things, vaccine mandates for truck drivers,” and incorrectly predicted they would disrupt the Super Bowl on February 13.
Earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki downplayed the impact of the potential anti-mandate rallies during Biden’s address, saying that “everybody can peacefully protest.”
In late January, American truckers, inspired by their Canadian colleagues, announced their plans to go to D.C. to protest COVID-related restrictions.
The New American reported in January about “Convoy to DC 2022,” a Facebook group planning a convoy to start in California and head to Washington, D.C.
“We’re done with the mandates, we’re done with the government telling us what to do, we will continue, and we will follow just like the rest of the world on these trucker protests, and they will be 100 percent legal, they will abide by the law,” said one of the group’s leaders, Brian Von D, in the announcement. “America, it’s your turn. It’s your turn to step up and show what you’re made of.”
Brian Brase, the organizer of another convoy group, said at that time that the convoy would likely start in late February or early March.
An organizer of another of the convoys headed to D.C., Bob Bolus, told Fox News in an interview that the truckers are planning to shut down the Capital Beltway.
“I’ll give you an analogy of that of a giant boa constrictor,” Bolus told Fox. “That basically squeezes you, chokes you and it swallows you, and that’s what we’re going to do [to] D.C.”
However, Bolus also said that the convoy would leave one lane clear for emergency vehicles, so as not to “compromise anybody’s safety or health, one way or the other.”
The main group behind the convoy to D.C., however, seems to be The People’s Convoy, an organization of truckers, frontline doctors from the COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) and the Unity Project headed by Dr. Robert Malone, and everyday Americans. The organization is supported by Robert F. Kennedy’s Children’s Health Defense.
According to its Sunday announcement, the convoy is set to start on Wednesday, February 23 from the Adelanto Stadium in Southern California, and per their posted schedule hopes to make it to the Capitol on March 5.
“The People’s Convoy will abide by agreements with local authorities, and terminate in the vicinity of the DC area, but will NOT be going into DC proper,” the organization said.
Maureen Steele, the effort’s national organizer, said recently the convoy is scheduled to start with “well over 1,000 truckers” and grow as it travels east.
Truckers will be demanding an end to the national emergency concerning the pandemic, and a restoration of “our nation’s Constitution,” per The People’s Convoy website.
