US trucker convoys prompt National Guard deployment in Washington

The US is to deploy hundreds of unarmed National Guard troops to Washington ahead of the arrival of trucker convoys protesting against pandemic restrictions.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved a request from the District of Columbia government and the US Capitol police.

The roughly 700 troops will be deployed on various roads in Washington.

The US trucker convoys aim to replicate recent trucker protests in Canada, which paralysed the capital Ottawa.

The National Guard troops will "provide support at designated traffic posts, provide command and control, and cover sustainment requirements" from Saturday until 7 March, a statement said.

Some 50 "large tactical vehicles" will be stationed at traffic posts 24 hours a day, the statement said. The troops will not carry firearms or take part in law enforcement.

Last week the US Capitol Police said several trucker convoys were planning to converge on Washington around the time of President Biden's State of the Union address on 1 March.

One of the protest organisers, Bob Bolus, told a local Fox News TV station that his group aimed to shut down the Beltway, a highway that surrounds Washington.

"I'll give you an analogy of that of a giant boa constrictor. That basically squeezes you, chokes you and it swallows you, and that's what we're going to do DC," he said.

The convoys follow protests by Canadian truckers that blocked a bridge linking Windsor, Ontario, with the US state of Michigan - the busiest border crossing between the US and Canada.

They also converged on Ottawa, with hundreds of trucks blocking streets in the city.

The protests began with a truck convoy heading to Ottawa to oppose a vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the US-Canada border, but eventually became about a broader opposition to pandemic restrictions and Mr Trudeau's government.

In response, Canada for the first time invoked an emergency law, detained convoy leaders and froze truckers' bank accounts.