Coronavirus: Thread

[grarpamp]

Massive Trucker Convoys Protest Corona Bullshit, Lay Siege to Cities...
Fuck Trudeau, Biden, Ardern, Austria, AU, and all the rest.
Support truckers, join the bid to end the Corona insanity.
Rolling across USA next.


Florida Trucker In Canada Convoy: "We're Here To Join A Movement"

https://twitter.com/fitz_meagan/status/1486752302966972422
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/florida-trucker-in-canada-convoy-were-here-to-join-a-movement
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckers-angry-over-vaccine-mandates-roll-toward-canadas-capital-in-protest
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-to-close-borders-to-unvaccinated-canadian-mexican-truckers-on-saturday

Florida-based owner-operator DeAndre Mahadeo, like other truckers who
rolled past throngs of supporters just outside Toronto, got a rousing
send-off on Thursday as he prepared to head to the capital, Ottawa, in
a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the border.

Hundreds of people of all ages called them heroes and even freedom
fighters as 15 to 20 trucks and a few hundred passenger vehicles
paraded through a mall parking lot in Vaughan. Some handed over boxes
of cookies, brownies and other snacks.

“We’re here to join a movement,” said Mahadeo, 30, a dual
U.S.-Canadian citizen who regularly moves freight in both countries.
“We need to end these restrictions once and for all.”
Trucker DeAndre Mahadeo poses for a photo as he prepares to join the
Freedom Convoy. (Photo: Nate Tabak)

Across the Toronto area, supporters on overpasses cheered on convoys
as they made their way along Canada’s busiest freight routes.

Mahadeo is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so the mandates at the
border haven’t affected his job. He continues to move auto parts back
and forth between the countries.

But the long-haul trucker — who considers both countries his home —
believes more is going on behind the vaccination requirements.

“There is a whole lot of overreach of the government, certainly in the
U.S. and Canada and around the world,” said Mahadeo, who was born in
Guyana. “Governments are using this as an opportunity to gain more
leverage against the people.”

Mahadeo spoke as he inched his truck forward as his convoy prepared to
join a larger one that had come from Niagara, Ontario. Multiple
convoys under the auspices of the Freedom Convoy have been making
their way toward Ottawa since the weekend — with the largest coming
from western Canada.

A few trucks ahead of Mahadeo, Ontario owner-operator Tom Slawinski
expressed frustration at the U.S. and Canadian governments. But for
the unvaccinated driver, the consequences were more immediate since he
can only run domestic freight now unless he gets the shot.

“I can’t make money,” Slawinski said.

The protest convoys bound for Ottawa started in response to the
vaccine mandates that the U.S. and Canada imposed on cross-border
drivers earlier this month. But they have emerged as a rallying point
for Canadians against pandemic-related restrictions and the government
of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau itself.

“I tried to join groups that have done this, but it’s always just kind
of fizzled out. I feel now like it’s getting momentum,” said Carolyn
Carey, of Newmarket, Ontario, one of the many nontruckers in the
convoy.

Carey said she identified with the unvaccinated cross-border drivers,
having been fired from her job in housekeeping at a hospital after
refusing to get the shot.

“I should be able to choose and not have to be forced to take the
vaccine,” she said.

    Huge crowd here in Vaughan to support the convoy of truckers who
are en route to Ottawa to protest vaccine rules for cross-border
drivers. pic.twitter.com/K3x3YZpASr
    — Meagan Fitzpatrick (@fitz_meagan) January 27, 2022

Adding to the anger in the crowd were comments Trudeau made on
Wednesday about the convoy.

“The small fringe minority of people who are on their way to Ottawa,
who are holding unacceptable views that they are expressing, do not
represent the views of Canadians,” Trudeau said.

Many in the crowd held signs calling out the prime minister, including
some that read “Truck Frudeau.”

Organizers of the Freedom Convoy say that 50,000 trucks will converge
in Ottawa. As of yet, reports from across Canada point to a smaller
figure, with individual convoys numbering in the hundreds of vehicles
to over 1,000, in the case of one spotted in Saskatchewan. On
Wednesday, Ottawa police said they are expecting 1,000 to 2,000
protesters.

A GoFundMe campaign for the Freedom Convoy continues to see donations
pour in. As of Thursday evening, it had raised over CA$6.3 million
(US$5 million). The organizers have reportedly withdrawn CA$1 million
after submitting a distribution plan to GoFundMe, which had been
withholding the funds.