The People's Convoy, an American offshoot of Canada's Freedom Convoy, reportedly plans to send some of its truckers to the White House on Saturday.
The convoy is expected to arrive in Washington, D.C., as part of its cross-country protest against vaccine and other COVID-19 mandates. According to NBC News, one organizer told supporters that some of the trucks involved in the protest will be heading to the White House.
"I can tell you now that there will be select trucks going to the White House," organizer Dan Fitzgerald said in a livestream on Friday.
The number of protesters is unknown, but NBC News estimated that "several dozen tractor-trailer trucks and hundreds of cars" have joined the convoy.
It will be the second convoy attempting to make its way to D.C. after the first attempt, the People's Convoy, made its way to the Capitol with only 20 protesters in attendance. The exact numbers of protesters are unknown, but NBC News estimates that "several dozen tractor-trailer trucks and hundreds of cars" have joined the American Freedom Convoy, which began in Troutdale, Oregon.
The American Freedom Convoy could see an overlap of support from those who supported the People's Convoy. A recent Trafalgar Group poll claimed that 50.3 percent of Americans were " very likely" or "somewhat likely" to support the People's Convoy, meaning that the American Freedom Convoy could receive a similar embrace. The latest convoy has sparked the creation of several Telegram groups with tens of thousands of followers.
So far, rallies have been well-attended as the convoy made its way across the United States. According to the Billings Gazette, the rally in Billings, Montana, saw more than 100 people support the convoy.
"I grew up 'one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' That's what made our country great—the greatest country that has ever been on Earth, really, for freedom," one participant told the newspaper. "We started out from the Pilgrims and that's what we've stood for and in today's environment, I see this much more about control and the freedom of it.
"[It] isn't for politics to tell us how to live. It's that we are a democracy and everyone votes and we stand for what we stand for and we support the people that are [in the convoy]."
The American Freedom Convoy's core message is to "restore our freedoms, our civil liberties and to bring an end to all unconstitutional mandates with legal provisions in place to ensure that this never happens again," according to its Facebook page.
But mask and vaccine mandates across the country recently have been reversed, including in more liberal areas like New York City.
Newsweek reached out to the American Freedom Convoy for comment regarding Fitzgerald's comments but has yet to receive a response.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is available.
Update 3/4/22, 3:53 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with background information.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
