Canberra has been accosted with a wall of noise as multiple convoys of trucks, cars, caravans and other roadworthy vehicles met in the national capital on Monday to protest for “freedom” against COVID-19 vaccines and pandemic restrictions.
It appears to have been organised through Telegram and the public Facebook group ‘2022 Official Convoy to Canberra’. It seems to be inspired by the hordes of anti-vax Canadian truckers that swarmed Ottowa to protest similar restrictions on Sunday — with some protesters reportedly carrying flags and signs emblazoned with swastikas. The Australian version has seen people drive from nearly every capital city on the mainland to meet in Canberra.
No matter if you can’t see the cooker convoy adorned with all its upside-down flags and cursed energy, because good God you can probably hear them from your backyard.
I can hear the cooked #ConvoyToCanberra from my house… pic.twitter.com/pQE2XisqTL
— Michael Di Iorio (@michaeldiiorio1) January 31, 2022
https://twitter.com/TheBoon777/status/1487897591794704385?s=20&t=JXnCx2ARWLMIcqx36Us-ZQ
https://twitter.com/wakeywakey107/status/1487947888890347521?s=20&t=JXnCx2ARWLMIcqx36Us-ZQ
Unsurprisingly, this cooker convoy has been goaded on by human cane toad Craig Kelly and protesters have woken up at the buttcrack of dawn to drive hours and descend on Parliament House on Monday morning, with some travelling over the weekend to arrive in the capital.
Let’s all support our Aussie truckies
I couldn’t get a truck but I’ve made up a FREEDOM TRAILER to tow along as a sign of support
I’ll be at Pheasants Nest from 7am on Monday with lots of FREEDOM signs if anyone wants them#ConvoyToCanberra #FredomConvoy2022 #freedomconvoy pic.twitter.com/E5I6GEZ5Tk
— Craig Kelly (@CKellyUAP) January 29, 2022
By the looks of things, a good 30-odd people had arrived by 11am — an hour after the designated meet-up time.
At Parliament House in Canberra. pic.twitter.com/mjMoIO2xCX
— Hadenough (@dawesl65) January 31, 2022
There’s no reported number on how many vehicles and people are anticipated to try and enter the area around Parliament House, and police have retreated after they were initially stopping and checking all cars trying to drive toward the site.
After being barraged with abuse, police have retreated and protesters are freely parking on the lawn in front of parliament
— whatsdoinmedia (@whatsdoinmedia) January 31, 2022
It seems there aren’t many trucks in this trucker-led cavalcade either, and there has been at least one car crash involving multiple cars in one of the various convoys descending on the country’s capital.
https://twitter.com/jealouscraig/status/1487946077152382977?s=20&t=JXnCx2ARWLMIcqx36Us-ZQ
From what can be seen on social media outside of Telegram there’s no real plan for the Australian convoy protest beyond “drive to Canberra with flag and honk horn”, or if the group is planning to occupy space near Parliament House similar to the protests in Canada.
One map on Instagram shows a highlighted space at the foot of the stairs to Parliament where people are meeting to protest, but beyond that, the group’s plans seem a bit directionless. Some protesters have mounted the curbs and driven up the lawns directly to Parliament House.
Some protesters have decided to drive and park on the lawn in front of parliament pic.twitter.com/8YRHjJP0bM
— whatsdoinmedia (@whatsdoinmedia) January 31, 2022
Another car makes it through pic.twitter.com/dP2UaSriQm
— whatsdoinmedia (@whatsdoinmedia) January 31, 2022
Online fundraisers have banked considerable amounts of money from people wanting to financially support the convoy, with the main one sitting at $159k of its $300k target at the time of writing — apparently upped from an initial target of $100k.
Just heard on the cooker convoy chat app that instead of pulling out of the GFM at $100k they upped it to $200k. Instead of pulling it out at $150k they upped it to $300k. Meanwhile people have spent their last dollars on this but no reimbursements. pic.twitter.com/Ssq59MxwMl
— Cookerwatch (@cookerwatch) January 30, 2022
The ‘Oz to Canberra Convoy Official’ fundraiser doesn’t specify where donations will be going, with people giving thousands of dollars to a fundraiser with no direction beyond a promise that money will be given to “people in need”. Seems legit.
