For a second cold January day in as many years, thousands of demonstrators, including throngs of far-right Proud Boys, descended upon Washington, D.C. This time, the right-wing marchers came to protest vaccine mandates, even as America struggles to ward off the third wave of COVID-19.
While the omicron variant continues to rage, about 25,000 protesters gathered Sunday on the National Mall, chanting anti-vaccine slogans, donning pro-Trump memorabilia, and holding up signs that called for violence, according to The Washington Post. Many of their signs displayed messages like "Vaccines are mass kill bio weapons" and "Trump won," echoing Donald Trump's baseless claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Nearby, a bus – plastered with pictures Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky, White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci and Microsoft founder Bill Gates – was parked on the side of the road, with the word "WANTED" above the three figures' heads.
