© ABC WashingtonA long line of trucks preparing to make its way into the D.C. region to protest mask and vaccine mandates was spotted in Hagerstown, Maryland.
The U.S.-based group, called the "People's Convoy" convened at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland on Friday, with roughly 1,000 cars in attendance, according to the newspaper.
The group said in a media statement last week that it is trekking across the country and demonstrating for "end the State of Emergency that led to overreaching mandates," referring to itself as "a peaceful and unified transcontinental movement."
Comment: From March 1:
The demonstrators maintained that they were not going into the capital itself and would not be there for President Biden's first State of the Union, which took place on Tuesday, after several law enforcement agencies reached out to the Pentagon for assistance over concerns of possible protesting.
But the plans of the People's Convoy appear fluid this week; the group said it was coordinating a weekend rally for both Friday and Saturday.
"We're going to keep annoying D.C ... Just make them wonder a little bit," Mike Landis, an organizer for the People's Convoy, told the Post, adding, "Look, we're truck drivers, we're very spontaneous."
"Well, we're going to do something," Brian Brase, another organizer, said, according to the newspaper. "What this is is yet to be determined. Please be patient."
Brase claimed that the group would hold a rally in Hagerstown, Md. on Saturday and maybe go to a separate area "only two miles from the Beltway," the Post reported.
The protest comes, however, as a number of states have already loosened or dropped mask mandates as cases nationwide have declined. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention significantly eased its masking guidelines last month.
The Hill has reached out to the People's Convoy for comment.
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