According to reports, protesters from around the country arrived in the capital on Monday, January 31st, as part of a protest called “Convoy to Canberra,” which involved enough cars and trucks to stretch for several miles.
The protest in Australia comes as over 50,000 truckers and growing in Canada drove to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, to protest the vaccine mandates and lockdowns that are suffocating their industry and worsening an already terrible supply chain crisis.
It also comes after Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews issued a warning that soon he will likely require Covid-19 vaccine boosters in order for people to be considered as “fully vaccinated.”
“There has already been some mandating done for third doses, and there will be more,” he pledged on Sunday, January 30.
Following this, thousands of drivers left their homes in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia to travel thousand of kilometres in protest.
Demonstrators flooded their social media with pictures and videos of the miles-long demonstration with some showing streets and highways completely overflowing with cars, trucks and tractors. Supporters also lined the streets yelling, cheering and waving Australian flags.
One supporter reported waiting with a “tribe” on the Mount Street Bridge in North Sydney while waving flags as the convoy passed beneath her. “What an amazing day,” she wrote on social media.
“I drove over to North Sydney to wait for the convoy to come through, half thinking I’d be there solo. In no time at all a tribe appeared … and just kept growing (the photo was taken early on). It was an honour to be part of the boots on the ground today; spending an afternoon in the hot sun with people on the same page as me, waiting for another bunch of phenomenal humans to drive by,” she added.
Another protester drove a truck with a billboard criticizing vaccinations for children featuring pictures of kids who had been hospitalized due to negative side effects.
“COVID-19 vaccine side effects,” the billboard read, adding: “Don’t risk your child.”
Local police have warned residents to avoid highways and streets where the convoys are progressing, noting that traffic would be heavy and risks high.
