The People’s Convoy is having quite a Friday already. First, there are reports of police having to break up a heated exchange Thursday night, which resulted in one person being arrested with a loaded firearm on their person. This was hours after members of the Convoy rolled by a private school to honk their horns and cheer “freedom” with the kids. But with their deadline to leave Hagerstown Speedway by April 7, and growing infighting about what to do next, it seems the People’s Convoy might be on the ropes.
Protesters posted video of the students of the Baptist school in Hagerstown, Maryland, climbing all over the trucks and honking horns, according to Vice:
“Oh, these are little kids!” said one of the livestreamers upon rolling up. “I thought it would be teenagers and stuff, but these are kindergartners and such.”
The truckers quickly led the children in chants of “Freedom!” as tinny renditions of “It’s a Small World After All” and “Jingle Bells” played over a PA system.
Convoy co-organizer Mike Landis announced plans to stop at the school at their daily meeting on Thursday morning. “This gentleman has organized some trucks to go over and hang out with the kids,” Landis said. “They’re gonna go over and pay a visit to those kids.”
The children were given tours of the trucks and honked the horn, with a long line of kids waiting to get inside the big rigs.
“You’re on YouTube now, you’re famous!” one of the streamers told the kids.
A livestreamer trucker who goes by “Sasnak” and has 126,000 subscribers, videoed kids as they clambered into his truck and pulled the horn. “We watch you on YouTube!” one exclaimed.
Once the kids were back in classes, truckers hung around the parking lot swapping conspiracy theories with parents.
You see, it’s all about the kids! Other truckers went for another loop of the Beltway. At the end of the day, they all came back to Hagerstown Speedway where a meeting devolved into a heated argument. Maryland State PD arrived and arrested one individual who was armed with a loaded weapon, according to Daily Beast reporter Zachary Petrizzo:
No word on if the Convoy members attempted a citizen’s arrest on Maryland State PD or if that’s just reserved for D.C. Metro police for making protesters pee their pants (seriously, how can these guys call themselves truckers if they don’t know about the Way of the Road?)
This latest arrest comes as yet another instance of violence against someone stuck in Convoy traffic is reportedly being investigated by police. A motorcyclist and Marine reservist reported to police he was assaulted by Convoy drivers, who snatched the keys out of his bike and slammed him down on the Beltway pavement on March 16, according to WTOP News.
“He grabs my key out of my ignition, and I basically, as soon as he did that, I grabbed for him because I wanted my property back, and since my arm was outreached, they grabbed me and pulled me off the motorcycle, dropping the motorcycle,” he said.
Logan said he recalls being held to the ground.
“They pinned me to the ground, and every time I tried to get back up, they would pin me back and slam me, so my head got slammed into the ground several times,” he said.
During the encounter, he said he repeatedly told the men holding him down to stop.
“I told them this is assault; you’re assaulting a veteran and one of them replied, ‘I’m a veteran too, and I don’t give a f***,’” Logan said.
Logan said he tried to call 911, but before the call came through, D.C. police officers on motorcycles arrived on the scene. Someone else had also called them, police said.
An older woman reported to police that a Convoy driver broke her leg in two places after he hit her with his BMW. Luckily, since these ya-hoos livestream everything they do and chat about it in open Telegram channels, police won’t have to work very hard on bringing charges up, should any arise from these two investigations.
These protesters definitely seem like the type of people who should be hanging around kindergarten-aged kids.
In the mean time, Hagerstown Speedway is kicking the truckers out on April 7, as they have a racetrack to run. There was hope earlier this week that the Convoy could just relocate to another part of the Speedway, but the general manager told the Herald Mail the entire convoy needs to be out by the end of next week:
The group began moving Wednesday to another part of the speedway that won’t interfere with the races and plans to stay at the facility until a different base of operations can be found in the area, according to Mike Landis, one of the convoy organizers.
“We’re going to stay here until we find a spot that’s suitable for us that we can all agree on,” he said in a Wednesday interview with The Herald-Mail, adding that the group was considering locations in Virginia that would have easy access to the Capital Beltway.
Freezing temps are on the way this weekend, and with no real wins beside Ted Cruz joining in for a photo op, questions about funding and problems quickly snowballing, the Hagerstown camp is devolving into factions, division and infighting, Petrizzo reports:
That darn Ricky Bobby. Who knows what madness Monday will bring to the People’s Convoy, but we’ll be sure to keep up with all the happenings.
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