Another truck convoy protesting government mandates set to roll through Kansas, Missouri
A convoy of trucks and other vehicles heading to Washington, D.C., to protest government mandates is scheduled to pass through Kansas and Missouri on Thursday and Friday.
The “Freedom Convoy to D.C.-Midwest Route” is the second such event in a week with plans to roll through both states. Another convoy that set out from California last week on its way to D.C. pulled the plug early Saturday after one day, saying there weren’t enough participants to continue.
Meanwhile, “The People’s Convoy,” which left Adelanto, California, on Feb. 23, continues to head toward the nation’s capital and has grown to be many miles long as others join it along the way.
The new convoy is coming from Colorado and is scheduled to arrive in Salina, Kansas, around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, where participants will spend the night, according to its Facebook posts. The group plans to leave Salina at 9 a.m. Friday and travel east on I-70, doing a “slow roll” through Junction City at 10 a.m. and a “slow roll” through Topeka at 11:30 a.m., the schedule says. Near Lawrence, it will take U.S. 40 east (exit 366) to K-10 east to I-435 around the south side of Kansas City.
The convoy plans to arrive in Oak Grove, Missouri, at 1 p.m., do a “slow roll” through Columbia at 3:30 p.m., take I-270 north around St. Louis and stop for the night at 8 p.m. in Vandalia, Illinois.
Authorities in Kansas and Missouri said Thursday they will be monitoring the convoy.
“We have not heard directly from any of the organizers, but we are aware of the event,” said Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman with the Kansas City Police Department. “We are not aware of any threats to the Kansas City area. We have plans in place should it be required. And we are in communication with our Kansas law enforcement partners.”
Patrol Capt. Bill Cox, of the Salina Police Department, said a social media post about a week ago alerted his agency to the convoy. The department hasn’t heard anything since, he said.
The expectation is that the convoy will arrive Thursday evening and spend the night and head out in the morning, he said.
“We’re just going to try to control what we can control as far as the traffic goes,” Cox told The Star Thursday morning. “We’re more concerned I think (about) spectators on the side of the roads as opposed to the actual convoy itself.
“... We expect people to be out in support, but we don’t have anything organized that we have heard. So we just plan for what we expect to be there.”
Traffic and parking for the convoy at already-busy truck stops in the Salina area are the main concerns, Cox said.
“Mostly, I haven’t heard that it has gotten out of hand anywhere,” Cox said. “I just expect people out in support, and these guys coming through and keep heading east.”
Lt. Candice Breshears of the Kansas Highway Patrol said the agency was aware of the convoy and is “monitoring, gaining information, and working with other agencies.”
“The goal continues to be to make sure that all citizens and travelers through our state remain as safe as possible,” she said.
Topeka Police have been working with law enforcement agencies in Shawnee County and in the state to coordinate efforts for when the convoy is expected to go through on Friday.
“From what I understand, the convoy is not going to be all together,” said Topeka Police Lt. Manuel Munoz.
“What they describe is, it’s going to be waves of vehicles. … That’s what we’re being told. That’s the way we hope it happens.”
The convoy will be stretching 15 to 20 miles or maybe more, Munoz said.
Capt. John Hotz, spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol, said the agency was “working with federal, state, and local partners to monitor them for situational awareness and will address any issues if they arise.”
Last week, authorities were monitoring another convoy — “Freedom Convoy USA 2022” — that was supposed to run through Kansas and Missouri. One of several convoys to hit the highways in the past week, it planned to travel across I-70 in Kansas and Missouri on Sunday and Monday. Its goal was to reach the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to protest during President Joe Biden’s “State of the Union” address.
But that convoy quickly fizzled, with the organizer saying the group had arrived in Las Vegas with only five trucks. He recommended that supporters instead join two other convoys already in progress.
The biggest convoy by far has been “The People’s Convoy,” whose route has taken it through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma on Interstate 40, then northeast on I-44 at Oklahoma City and into Missouri on Monday, where it ran through Joplin and Springfield before stopping in Cuba for the night. The group then continued east from St. Louis on I-70 and is scheduled to end up in the D.C. area on Saturday but “will NOT be going into DC proper,” it says on its website.
That convoy has stretched for many miles and consists of tractor-trailer rigs, pickups, cars and RVs. Supporters have gathered on overpasses all along the route, waving signs and blaring their horns. When the caravans stop for the night, supporters carrying flags and signs with pro-Trump and anti-vaccine messages — as well as derogatory phrases about Biden — bring the drivers food and other donations.
Some of the evening gatherings have had the feel of political rallies. Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned the governorship in 2018 amid sexual abuse and campaign finance scandals and now is running for U.S. Senate, rode 40 miles with the convoy and attracted a crowd when it stopped at a truck plaza in Cuba. He did a live interview on former White House strategist Steve Bannon’s online talk show, “War Room,” as supporters cheered in the background.
Hotz said it was hard to tell how long “The People’s Convoy” was when it went through Missouri.
“I don’t have an official estimate because vehicles would kind of join in and then drop out as they went along, but at one point the convoy was close to 17 miles in length,” he said. “I am not aware of any significant issues from a Patrol perspective.”
The convoys are modeled after recent Canadian truckers’ protests of vaccine mandates, including one requiring those crossing the U.S.-Canada border to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
Many supporters of the “Freedom Convoy USA 2022” were frustrated and angry when the announcement to disband it was made in a middle-of-the-night post on Facebook.
Some ended up joining “The People’s Convoy,” but others have been complaining and calling the “Freedom Convoy USA 2022” convoy a scam. Its organizer, Kyle Sefcik, traveled on to D.C. and went ahead with his plans for a rally Tuesday afternoon near the Washington Monument prior to Biden’s address. Media reports and video from the event show a sparse crowd, with reporters appearing to outnumber protesters.
“I appreciate those of you that did show up,” Sefcik told attendees as he stood on a stage and faced the small group. “I did whatever I had the power and my ability to do. I mean, I lost money setting all this up, you guys.
“But it’s not about that. It’s worth it all… I’m gonna make sure that me and my family are living free, even if we live in a box. I’m not gonna have these other people telling me what to do.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 1:30 PM.
