A group of Alaska “Freedom Convoy” truckers drove to protest and support their Canadian counterpart’s two-week Ottawa protest on Sunday.
More than a hundred drivers took trucks and personal vehicles from a south Anchorage Cabela’s to the Eagle River Alaska Lions Club. In their protest, Fox News said it was a show of support for Canadian truck drivers in Ottawa.
Anchorage Assembly member Jamie Allard organized the 30-minute drive. Allard told KTUU that the protest aimed to “support our truckers.” He added that “people need to be recognized for everything we’re doing here in our city.”
A previous rally in the state’s capital of Juneau took place on Jan. 29. Additionally, a second convoy took another protest trip 30 miles north that day. Additional events on the Kenai Peninsula and Fairbanks also occurred Sunday.
Alaska Truckers Stand And Sit In Solidarity
According to The Associated Press, truck drivers can only enter Canada if they are fully vaccinated.
Canadian officials, looking to stem the tide of pandemic infections, are enforcing the Jan. 15 mandate. One week later, U.S. Customs officers required vaccinations for essential non-resident travelers.
Kelly Tshibaka, who is mounting a 2022 midterm challenge to Alaskan Senate Republican Lisa Murkowski, took part in the event with the truckers.
“We are taking part in the Freedom Convoy standing in solidarity with truckers in Canada and really across North America. We stand for their freedom to choose,” Kelly Tshibaka said in a video posted Sunday from the cab of a truck.
Tshibaka recently served as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration. She’s made it a point to “stand with truckers” who are fighting for jobs, their families, and their communities. The Harvard graduate said the protest was “really about freedom.”
Sunday’s events came as Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency in his city. The Canadian capital city is more than 4,000 miles west of Anchorage. Ottawa has been “under siege” by approximately 500 trucks and vehicles in their “Freedom Convoy” outside Canadian Parliament.
Overall, law enforcement started to crack down with seven Monday arrests and more than 100 tickets to combat the demonstrations. Likewise, Ottawa police threatened to charge anyone caught bringing fuel to the truckers.
Canadian Protests Come On Horseback
According to Alaska Highway News, some protesters are braving the winter weather to join a truck blockade near Cutts, Alberta.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said more than 100 protestors on horses joined truckers to protest. RCMP Corporal Gina Slaney says the horses arrived at the scene in trailers. She also said that food trucks followed.
Slaney said traffic is moving in both directions at the Canada-U.S. border despite the blockade. Earlier in the week, the website reported that protesters agreed to open some lanes for traffic so truckers could haul cargo across the border.
