Trucker COVID Vaccine Protest Coming To NJ; State Police Gear Up

NEW JERSEY — A convoy and rally inspired by a week of protests at the Canada-United States border plans to roll through New Jersey next week.

Demonstrations in Canada have inspired similar protests, including in France, Australia and in the United States.

Planned trucker convoys protesting vaccine requirements may snarl traffic on the Beltway, including from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, both before and after President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on March 1. More than 100 New Jersey National Guard members will head to Washington, D.C., ahead of Biden's address, Gov. Phil Murphy said.

More than 700 National Guard personnel from around the U.S. will arrive in the nation's capital to help control traffic, according to CBS News.

"We're going to do what we need to do to protect our nation's capital," Murphy said Wednesday.

Read more: Trucker Convoy Protests Could Create Havoc For DC, NoVA

A New Jersey convoy and rally is set for next weekend, March 5 and 6, protesting the state of emergency that they say has given Murphy too much authority without legislative approval.

Col. Pat Callahan with NJ State Police said troopers will be prepared to keep traffic moving this weekend and into next week. Callahan did not speak specifically about next weekend's planned protest.

"It's one thing to rally and travel on our interstates to get to a certain rally point," Callahan said. "Where they go when they leave New Jersey is obviously up to them. I would hope that we don't have to use our heavy-duty wreckers. If they come to a stop they will be ordered to keep moving, but we are planning for scenarios where we would have heavy-duty wreckers standing by to tow them at their expense off of our interstates."

The New Jersey convoy event takes place March 5 in North Jersey and March 6 in South Jersey, with a send-off event at the Salem County Fairgrounds.

The send-off event is described as a family-friendly atmosphere with music, food and activities for children. There will be guest speakers and a performance from New Jersey native Michale Graves, formerly of The Misfits.

"This convoy aims to restore our civil liberties and freedoms," event organizers wrote on the NJ Convoy web page. "We demand an end to all unconstitutional mandates. We aim to protect the freedom of choice for future generations. It’s not about political parties, but more so about a government that has forgotten its place and has no regard for our Founding Fathers’ instructions, The Constitution of the United States of America."

An organizer of one of the truck convoys from Pennsylvania told Fox5 that his group plans to shut down the Capital Beltway.

Another group, The People's Convoy, said reporters from right-wing news outlets such as Newsmax and Epoch Times will be "embedding" in its convoy to provide live daily updates. The People's Convoy is scheduled to arrive in the D.C. area on March 5.

Patch editor Mark Hand contributed to this report from Virginia.