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On Tuesday, the Biden administration approved the deployment of National Guard troops, a tactic similar to that used by Justin Trudeau in Canada, in the face of the trucker protests against pandemic restrictions expected soon in Washington.
Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, authorized the use of 700 unarmed troops from the Army Reserve Corps in response to a request from the capital’s authorities and the U.S. Capitol Police.
The military will support traffic control efforts as several trucker convoys are presumed to converge in Washington to protest against the measures adopted to restrict covid.19, following the example of the demonstrations seen in Canada.
It is expected that some of the convoys, departing from different parts of the country could be in Washington by March 1, when President Joe Biden is scheduled to give his State of the Union address.
In recent weeks, truckers and opponents of the restrictive measures have occupied downtown Ottawa, the Canadian capital, and blocked border crossings between Canada and the United States to protest the government’s policies.
This weekend, Ottawa Police dispersed most of the protestors who had barricaded themselves in the city center, in an operation that generated controversy due to the use of pepper spray, beatings, batons and violence against the demonstrators
