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A member of the "People's Convoy" of truckers that has blocked the Washington, D.C. Beltway to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions complained in a video that other drivers along the Beltway have been giving him the middle finger as they drive by.
In the video, which was first shared to social media by Zachary Petrizzo, a media reporter for The Daily Beast, complains that D.C. is a "different world" because "birds are flying, birds are flying everywhere!"
You can hear the convoy member's remarks in the video below.
pic.twitter.com/Q9KlVgTErr— Zachary Petrizzo (@Zachary Petrizzo) 1646934870
He said:
"Not one time did I see anyone flipping us the bird [when driving across the country]. Not once. You go around the Beltway, birds are flying, birds are flying everywhere!"
"That's the kind of people that live up there, you know? It's a different world, D.C. is a different world."
"We're trying to straighten it out. We're trying to clean it up. That's what this is all about, trying to get it cleaned up."
Bird flipping is apparently such a problem that Brian Brase, the convoy's lead organizer, has suggested that truckers “flood 911” with calls as tensions between the convoy's members and D.C. commuters continue to rise.
A Maryland State Police communications official who spoke to The Daily Beast said that calls to 911 should be reserved for emergencies, stressing that a driver flipping a trucker off is not an emergency.
Many have criticized the driver's righteous behavior, pointing out that the convoy has disrupted the lives of D.C. residents, to say nothing of others who rely on the Beltway.
"Gosh, I don't know HOW they could be so mad at us?" \n\nWhat a load of crap, that's the response I'd expect if I set out to disrupt people's commutes and lives.https://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— Randy (@Randy) 1647016681
The righteous rural and sub-urban dwellers will purify the decadent and degenerate urban spaces\n\nDark timeshttps://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— War is itself a crime (@War is itself a crime) 1647015451
Yeah, "that's the kind of people that live there," Americans, you idiot.https://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— Richard Vermillion (@Richard Vermillion) 1646955178
Ok cleatus, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re just the moron to advise your government on matters of bioscience policy.https://twitter.com/ztpetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— Occam\u2019s Shaving Butter (@Occam\u2019s Shaving Butter) 1646964543
Lol. This does not seem to be a successful blocking of traffic. Just wasting gas, expanding their carbon footprint. Birds deserved. @WashProbshttps://twitter.com/ztpetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— dc_layercake \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffc\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@dc_layercake \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffc\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1646971227
America flips the #freedumbConvoy2022 the bird. It\u2019s an Empty gesture proving only tool truckers have time and gas to burn.https://twitter.com/ztpetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— stevelyle (@stevelyle) 1646973859
"It's a different world" applies to him and his fascist tRump-obeyers. They make up about 2% of the USA population, yet they have been running the USA for 50+ years.https://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— RealDesertphile (@RealDesertphile) 1647010971
What does this mean? They\u2019re trying to clean up normal residents of a metroplex? Is he going to kill us all? Make us existing illegal? This sounds like a weird threat, and I really don\u2019t understand. The people on the beltway aren\u2019t politicians!https://twitter.com/ztpetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— amanda aka frank \ud83d\udc22 (@amanda aka frank \ud83d\udc22) 1647014468
Oh, so sorry. It seems that as the #TruckersConvoy #ConvoyForFreedom2022 circles D.C. on the Beltway other drivers are flipping them off. Actually, not sorry. The diesel-wasting #Convoy is so stupid.https://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo/status/1501979827083038739\u00a0\u2026— JHinck (@JHinck) 1646945868
The D.C. protest was inspired by Canada's "Freedom Convoy," a protest led by Canadian truckers who've pushed back against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The convoy, comprised of a minority of the country's truckers who've retaliated after the United States and Canada agreed to COVID-19 vaccine requirements for truckers to re-enter the country by land, for weeks garnered headlines amid concerns that organizers and groups have been involved with white nationalist contingents, QAnon, and other far-right groups.
Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau evoked the country's Emergencies Act for the first time since its passing in 1988, kicking off a large-scale operation that ultimately cleared the majority of protesters and dismantled much of the movement.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, was criticized after complaining about rising gas prices only to then attempt to seek an audience with truckers engaged in a driving protest that has for days burned expensive diesel.