WASHINGTON: Hundreds of trucks, recreational vehicles and cars circled the outskirts of Washington on Sunday, aiming to slow traffic around the capital as part of a protest against pandemic restrictions.
The so-called “People’s Convoy,” which originated in California and has drawn participants from around the country, is calling for an end to all pandemic-related restrictions. It was inspired by demonstrations last month that paralyzed Ottawa, Canada’s capital city.
Leaders of the convoy said that on Monday they will again slowly drive the Beltway, a 64-mile highway that encircles the city, though details of when the action would take place were not known.
Hundreds of vehicles gathered on Friday and Saturday at the Hagerstown Speedway, a racetrack in Maryland about 80 miles (129 km) northwest of downtown Washington.
On Sunday morning, many left in convoy to drive two slow laps on the Beltway. They honked their horns as they set off, while onlookers waved American flags, according to a Reuters witness.
The convoy, more than 2 miles long, slowed traffic at points along the Beltway by late Sunday morning, but did not bring it to a standstill. It returned to the Hagerstown Speedway in the afternoon, according to messages on the convoy’s Telegram channel.
The convoy’s protest against vaccine requirements and other pandemic restrictions has been undercut in recent weeks as major US cities have rolled back mask mandates and other measures against COVID-19 with infections and hospitalizations declining dramatically.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, signaled in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday that the country was entering a new, phase of the pandemic without business lockdowns, school closures or other daily disruptions.
At the racetrack on Friday night, one participant who described himself as the lead trucker told a cheering crowd he would drive his truck into the heart of the American capital.
“D.C., the government, whomever, can claim that they have all this opposition for us waiting in D.C.,” the man said. “But that flag on the back of my truck will go down to Constitution Avenue between the White House and the Washington Monument.”
US federal law enforcement agencies have been coordinating with state and local authorities for weeks in preparation for the possible arrival of the convoy, according to one US official who requested anonymity to discuss internal operations.
A Feb. 26 US Department of Homeland Security bulletin to law enforcement reviewed by Reuters said trucker convoys could hinder emergency responders depending on the size of the protest.
‘People’s Convoy’ truck protest targets Washington, slows traffic
https://arab.news/8erp7
‘People’s Convoy’ truck protest targets Washington, slows traffic
- The convoy, more than 2 miles long, slowed traffic at points along the Beltway by late Sunday morning, but did not bring it to a standstill
UK proposal to revisit Israel arms license suspension ‘appalling’: Civil society groups
- ‘A continuation of the status quo is insufficient, but a revocation of its current policies is altogether unconscionable’
- ‘It also risks demonstrating the UK’s weak commitment to upholding international law’
LONDON: The UK government’s overtures toward unblocking arms licenses to Israel have been condemned by five major civil society groups.
Amid outrage over the war on Gaza, the government suspended about 30 of 350 arms licenses to Israel in September 2024.
Components for the F-35 jet used by the Israeli Air Force were exempt from the partial suspension, despite the aircraft being used extensively to target civilian areas of Gaza.
In July 2024, three 2,000-pound bombs were dropped by F-35s on an area in Khan Younis that Israel had declared a “safe zone,” killing 90 Palestinians.
Peter Kyle, the government’s business and trade secretary, has now committed to revisiting UK-Israel trade relations and the partial pause on arms export licenses. Kyle told the London-based Jewish Chronicle that the two issues are “intrinsically linked.”
In response, the Campaign Against Arms Trade, Global Justice Now, the Global Legal Action Network, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians and War on Want condemned the proposal as “appalling.”
On top of previous moves ostensibly aimed at curtailing Israeli aggression in Gaza, the UK government also suspended talks on a new trade deal last May but failed to suspend the existing trade agreement.
The five leading civil society organizations said in a joint statement: “Peter Kyle said that he wants to see movement towards a ‘sustainable peace’ in order for these measures to be considered. This position is completely divorced from reality.
“Israel’s continued killing of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank demonstrates a total disregard for peace, and a continuation of the genocide of the Palestinian people.
“Furthermore, Israel has concentrated the population of Gaza into an area beyond the Yellow Line, constituting only 42 percent of the Gaza Strip, and continues to expand this area.”
The five organizations also highlighted Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes in its “zone of control” in Gaza, in an attempt to “ensure that life continues to be unlivable” in the war-torn enclave.
There has been “little or no improvement” in the factors cited by the UK government for the initial arms export suspensions, the statement said.
“In fact, it is not even the case that there has been no substantive change. Rather, Israel has actively introduced new disruptions to aid distribution in Gaza, including its revocation of the licenses of 37 international non-governmental organisations working on aid provision in Gaza and the West Bank,” it added.
The UK government must continue to suspend the 30 licenses, but also the remaining 320, and cancel the existing free trade agreement with Israel, the five groups said.
“A continuation of the status quo is insufficient, but a revocation of its current policies is altogether unconscionable,” they added.
“It not only fails to hold Israel to account for its genocide of the Palestinian people, but it also risks demonstrating the UK’s weak commitment to upholding international law, already revealed through its continued supply of arms and business-as-usual approach to arms and economic trade with Israel, which has been damaged significantly in recent years by the UK’s continued support of Israel, despite its continued crimes against the Palestinian people.”
