Hundreds of truck drivers continued to face major delays Wednesday while attempting to enter Washington, D.C. to participate in protests related to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
The truckers met standstill traffic Wednesday afternoon on the 14th Street Bridge, enough to cause some of the drivers to exit their trucks and stand on the side of the road, ABC7 News reported.
The drivers claim the police are responsible for the ongoing gridlock, according the outlet. D.C. police have blocked exits from the Beltway into the city for four miles between the Potomac River and Anacostia since the convoy arrived in the district two weeks ago.
The Metropolitan Police Department closed numerous freeway exits to keep traffic moving safely through the city, according to 7News. The department alerted residents of the area to expect delays and closures. (RELATED: DC Police Attempt To Block Biden-Critical Americans From Entering Capital For Second Straight Day)
(3/17 @ 10:40 AM) Demonstration activity expected on roadways in and around DC today, motorists should expect traffic delays. @DCPoliceDept is prepared to implement traffic control measures, including rolling road closures, as needed. Sign up for updates https://t.co/8ueQkrgdT3 pic.twitter.com/JjSQeQcodK
— Alert DC (@AlertDC) March 17, 2022
“The District of Columbia was monitoring and prepared for demonstration activity this afternoon,” Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Director Christopher Rodriguez said in a statement Wednesday. “The Metropolitan Police Department implemented targeted traffic control measures as part of our layered mitigation strategy…to minimize disruptions to our residents and businesses by keeping large commercial vehicles off our surface streets.”
The majority of the convoys have been non-violent, Rodriguez told 7News, but should there be threats to public safety, the D.C. law enforcement would remain “tactically flexible.”
The demonstration, known as the “People’s Convoy,” has been camped out in Hagerstown, Maryland, since the first week of March. They have outwardly expressed opposition to the vaccine and mask mandates implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The truckers and other drivers have been looping the Beltway since arriving in Hagerstown, calling on the government to end its use of “emergency powers.”
“The cure was worse than the disease,” People’s Convoy Spokesperson Maureen Steele said of the government’s actions, according to News7. She claims suicide and divorce rates went “through the roof” due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“On behalf of Freedom Convoy 2022, we are asking you to end the state of emergency. End the mandates once and for all,” Freedom Convoy USA organizer Kyle Sefcik said in a February video address to President Joe Biden. “Sir, the world is watching us because they know if what’s happening in Canada happens to us here in the land of the free, then freedom as we know it is gone.”