Up to 800 National Guard troops are expected to be deployed ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, amid fears over the protest convoy of truckers heading to Washington DC for the event.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Pentagon confirmed that National Guard personnel have been requested to “provide support at traffic control points in and around the District” and to be alert for “possible disruption at key traffic arteries”.
However, no decision to the deployment or number of troops had yet been made, he said.
Several groups are reportedly planning different protests on different routes to Washington DC this week and into March, with several convoy maps and itineraries shared on social media.
Law enforcement agencies in Maryland, Virginia, and the nation’s capital are monitoring potential demonstrations, and security around the US Capitol is ramping up around Mr Biden’s SOTU address, planned for 1 March, while there are fears that some protests may attempt to disrupt the event.
One organiser of the People’s Convoy from Scranton, Pennsylvania, told a local Fox News station the convoy would be like “a giant boa constrictor ... that basically squeezes you, chokes you and it swallows you”.
“That’s what we’re going to do DC.”
