At least 1,000 'freedom convoy' vehicles converged at a speedway in Hagerstown, Maryland, on Friday night and through Saturday morning into the afternoon as some made the 2,500-mile journey from Southern California, according to WaPo. The convoy is at a staging area where their next move could be Washington, D.C., to protest the COVID-19 vaccine and other public health mandates.
NBC4 Washington reports the convoy is planning to drive onto the Capital Beltway on Saturday, but a convoy spokesperson said they'll stay in Hagerstown for another night.
The convoy left a rural parking lot in Adelanto, California, on Feb. 22 and is now at its last staging area, about 73 miles outside of D.C.
Here's the convoy's route across America as it appears Hagerstown is the last staging area before D.C.
Adelanto, California
Kingman, Arizona
Lupton, Arizona
Glenrio, Texas
Elk City, Oklahoma
Vinita, Oklahoma
Sullivan, Missouri
Indianapolis, Indiana
Cambridge, Ohio
Hagerstown, Maryland
The D.C. Beltway area
As the Epoch Times notes:
Organizers of the convoy told The Epoch Times that the group has adjusted its plans and are no longer aiming to arrive in Washington on Saturday as previously reported. Rather, they will be staying in Hagerstown, Maryland—about 70 miles northwest of Washington—for Saturday, and will be headed to an unspecified location two miles from the D.C. Beltway area either on Sunday or Monday.
Numbers in the convoy have fluctuated as vehicles and trucks join and drop off along the way. It’s unclear how many vehicles will be headed to the nation’s capital.
One of the organizers, Mike Landis, said he will be driving to Washington. He pointed to a symbolic U.S. flag that had been gifted to him by the grandson of a fallen soldier killed during WWII.
“In Oklahoma, his grandson drove from Texas to give it to me because his mother said that this is the first thing that reminds her of freedom since WWII and they wanted it to fly behind the lead truck,” he told a rally in Hagerstown on Friday.
“I can tell you one thing right now. The government can claim that they have all this opposition for us waiting in D.C. but that flag on the back of my truck will go down Constitution Avenue between the White House and the Washington Monument before this is over.”
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Aerial footage from the area shows a massive line of trucks.
nick moseder @nick_moseder
PEOPLES CONVOY IN HAGERSTOWN!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1500184604640169995
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