For the first time since the protest coalesced and hour and a half outside of D.C. on February 23, the People’s Convoy finally entered the capital Monday, bringing traffic to a standstill while spending some time harassing commuters in the process.
First, this video posted by Zachary Petrizzo, media reporter for the Daily Beast, shows a People’s Convoy trucker walk up to a passenger car and knock on the driver’s window while he shouts at them:
It looks like D.C. drivers have more reason than ever to let their middle fingers fly, but I wouldn’t recommend it, as apparently you could find yourself in a dangerous situation sandwiched between bullies. While this video of a People’s Convoy driver hitting the window of a passenger car in busy traffic is pretty infuriating, their tactics on the road didn’t just end at direct road rage confrontations. Petrizzo described what he saw on Twitter:
That is straight up dangerous and harassing behavior. Apparently these fools need a reminder, but a whole lot of normal people live and work in D.C. Teachers, doctors, secretaries, plumbers, short-order cooks; you are harassing and threatening the lives of the very American people you claim to hold so dear. Not to mention creating stop-and-go traffic during a monstrous spike in fuel costs.
Of course, in their own words, protesters are just there to do battle in the swamp. While the People’s Convoy got away with harassing drivers on the Beltway, police told the Washington Post that they were doing their best to simply keep the Convoy from taking over D.C.
Police blocked interstate exits in Washington into downtown as hundreds of trucks, cars and SUVs protesting the government’s response to the pandemic rode into the nation’s capital to start a second week of demonstrations.
Members of the “People’s Convoy” and thousands of other motorists encountered severe backups Monday afternoon, when traffic that already was heavy only worsened with the convoy’s arrival. The convoy entered the city via the 14th Street Bridge on Interstate 395 amid a near-standstill, then continued to Interstate 695 before crossing the Anacostia River and returning to the Beltway.
Eastbound traffic slowed to a crawl along a four-mile stretch from the Potomac River to Anacostia in the middle of the day. The D.C. detour represented an escalation in the group’s tactics after an application by convoy leaders for a nearly two-week permitted protest on the National Mall was partially denied.
“I believe we’re making a good statement today,” said one truck driver whose journey was live-streamed under the account ZOT on YouTube. “We’re right in the swamp now and creating a horrible mess down here.”
At least they applied for a permit in their attempt to shut down Washington D.C. And it was even partially approved! That’s America, but apparently that was not good enough for the Convoy truckers.
For their part, the truckers blamed the traffic on police, saying they never intended to leave the highway. Except organizers announced their intention to drive through the capital Monday morning with the explicit aim of slowing down traffic. From the Post again:
After taking the weekend off because of a snowstorm, convoy organizers announced Monday the group would resume their Beltway loop. They left the Hagerstown Speedway about 10 a.m., but this time with added plans for a detour into Washington.
“Today we’re getting right next to their walls,” said Mike Landis, a People’s Convoy co-organizer. “We’re not going to go in and throat-punch them just yet, even though I know we would all love to do that.”
Organizers decided to go through the city to display “a bigger presence,” convoy leader Brian Brase said in an interview.
“We are still here, and we’re not going anywhere yet,” Brase said. “It won’t be stopping, it won’t be blocking anything, they’ll just be driving through.”
To bleach your brain of this nonsense, here’s a story about Ukrainian truck drivers risking their lives to bring much needed supplies to their home country. They are the real heroes in these hard times.
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