Heavy vehicles, including garbage trucks and snow plows, are set near the entrance to Capitol Hill at Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street NW in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, amid reports that trucker protests will arrive on March 1, the day of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo

The Department of Defense authorized D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s and the U.S. Capitol Police’s request to deploy National Guard troops in the city ahead of a potential trucker convoy to protest pandemic restrictions.

The Associated Press first reported the news.

Roughly 400 D.C. National Guard troops will be joined by 300 out-of-state troops to control and support traffic flow in the region, as several different organizations plan to drive to D.C. starting this week. FOX’s Chad Pergram reported that the 400 D.C. troops will be posted at designated traffic posts on a 24-hour basis through at least March, while the out-of-state troops will arrive no later than Feb. 26., and will be stationed at different check points and entries to the Capitol by 7 a.m. on Saturday.

“Layered mitigations measures are being put in place, including some that will be visible to the public and others that are not,” reads a statement from Bowser’s office on Tuesday. “We appreciate the approval of our DC National Guard traffic support request as we pull together the resources to support our public safety personnel.”

The Department of Defense did not immediately return DCist/WAMU’s request for comment.

Area officials have been preparing in recent days for the protests, which appear largely decentralized online, but similar in motivation and messaging to the demonstrations that paralyzed Ottawa, Canada, for weeks. Last week, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee announced that the department would be staffing its Civil Disturbance Units with 500 officers per day throughout this week. Capitol Police also said they planned to ramp up security measures ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address next Tuesday, March 1. Large trucks and snow plows have also been spotted around downtown streets this week.

Capitol Police have also hinted that they may redeploy the perimeter fence that surrounded the U.S. Capitol for about six months following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. In a statement Thursday, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said she had been briefed on the issue by USCP Chief Thomas Manger. Early last year, Norton introduced a bill that would ban permanent fencing around the Capitol.

“While USCP is considering reinstalling temporary fencing around the Capitol, the information regarding threats changes hourly, and Chief Manger assured me the fencing would only be used if necessary and taken down as soon as the threat had passed,” Norton wrote.

Bowser and other District officials, meanwhile, haven’t directed D.C. residents to stay home, but the mayor’s latest statement regarding the protests on Tuesday urges Washingtonians to “remain vigilant” and report suspicious activity.

It’s unclear when exactly when, how, or if the trucker convoys will arrive in D.C. and its surrounding highways. While one organizer from Scranton, Pa., told FOX 5 earlier this week that he was going to shut down the Beltway almost completely (“like a boa constrictor”), by Wednesday morning, it appeared the convoy consisted of one lone truck.

If cohorts of protesters do arrive in the region, it’s uncertain where in the D.C. area they’ll go. At least one group, the People’s Convoy, which plans to depart from California on Wednesday, has explicit plans to avoid D.C. proper, and other online messaging groups have been debating whether it makes sense, given their mission, to enter D.C. at all.

https://twitter.com/coolfacejane/status/1496196689312559112

So far, there is only one truly scheduled event amid the patchwork of online organizing. Kyle Sefcik, an independent candidate for governor of Maryland and MMA fighter, applied for a permit with the National Park Service to host a rally at the Sylvan Theater on the National Mall on March 1, as reported by Fox 5. According to the permit, Sefick writes that “hopefully 1,000-3,000” people will show up, for a “Peaceful Demonstration/Assembly! Christian music/speakers against mandates. Support of Convoys in Canada. Lifting mandates in DC/USA.”

NPS spokesperson Mike Litterst says Sefcik’s permit is the only application they’ve received for any demonstrations relating to the convoys.

This post has been updated with new information about the Capitol fence.

Previously: 

Here’s What We Know So Far About Possible Trucker Convoy Protests Coming To D.C. Soon

Filed Under: general assignment, trucker protest,