First Truckers Arrive In Convoy Planned To 'Choke' DC
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A convoy of truckers from Pennsylvania is headed to the Washington, D.C. area to protest COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.
"We're going to go around the beltway and choke them like a big boa constrictor," Scranton businessman Bob Bolus said.
Bob Bolus owns a trucking company in Pennsylvania.
He organized a convoy from the state to head to Washington, D.C. The convoy traveled through our area to get to the Nation's Capital.
"We, as Americans have no rights," Bolus said. "We're higher gas prices, mandates whether we should have a vaccine."
Bolus said his group plans to block traffic on the Capital Beltway.
"We're going to have trucks around the whole beltway," Bolus said. "One lane will be open for emergency vehicles."
There are similar convoys coming to the D.C. area over the next week.
The protests are inspired by ones that happened in Canada for weeks.
Another protest, planned by a group called "The People's Convoy," is leaving from California and doesn't plan to make it to DC til next week.
Bolus wanted to come earlier.
"We all have the same mission," Bolus said. "My time schedule didn't coincide with them and we want our voices heard from our area."
We know that federal and local police in and around DC are preparing for these truckers and are trying to keep roads clear for traffic. The Pentagon has approved the deployment of 700 unarmed National Guard troops to the nation's capital as it prepares for trucker convoys.
Bolus told WJZ he's spoken with police and plans to keep his protest peaceful.