Ricky Schroder calls on American truckers to ‘shut down’ Washington amid Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests
The former 'Silver Spoons' star is praising the 'Canadian cowboys' for taking a stand
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ricky Schroder has called upon American truckers to "shut down" Washington over COVID-19 restrictions.
The actor, who praised Canada’s "Freedom Convoy" truckers, took to Instagram on Thursday and recorded a lengthy video of himself for his nearly 70K followers. The 51-year-old is seen sitting outside beside a fire while reading the Bible and analyzing its teachings.
"I think we see what we’re facing here," the former "Silver Spoons" star said. "It’s an evil that is trying to be forced upon our children, upon us. And God bless the Canadian truckers and the Canadian cowboys up there on the border."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Schroder said that there’s "great potential" for American truckers critical of the mandates to kick off similar protests by descending upon Washington, D.C. and other state capitals as early as Super Bowl Sunday.
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Actor Ricky Schroder shared a lengthy video to his nearly 70K followers. (Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
"Our truckers are gonna maybe start mobilizing and doing what we need to do, which is shut down D.C., shut down Sacramento, shut down Albany, shut down these states and these [capitals] until we root out this evil that was almost perpetrated on us," he explained. "We were so asleep."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Schroder also captioned the video: "God Bless the Canadian Truckers & Cowboys. We are not Livestock. We are Free Souls. Whatever it takes...it’s for our children’s children we Fight. Freedom & God. Matthew 13."
On Thursday, the Biden administration urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to use its federal powers to end the truck blockade by Canadians protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, as the bumper-to-bumper demonstration forced auto plants on both sides of the border to shut down or scale back production.
For the fourth straight day, scores of truckers taking part in what they dubbed the "Freedom Convoy" blocked the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, disrupting the flow of auto parts and other products between the two countries.
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Protesters against COVID-19 vaccine mandates block the roadway at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on Feb. 9, 2022. (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
The White House said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with their Canadian counterparts and urged them to help resolve the standoff.
Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Royal Canadian Mounted Police reinforcements are being sent to Windsor, Ottawa and Coutts, Alberta where another border blockade is happening.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trudeau, 50, met virtually with leaders of Canada’s opposition late Thursday and said he spoke with Windsor’s mayor. Trudeau’s office said there is a willingness to "respond with whatever it takes" to end the blockades.
In the U.S., authorities braced for the possibility of similar truckers' protests inspired by the Canadians, and authorities in Paris and Belgium banned road blockades to head off disruptions there, too.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ricky Schroder starred in "Silver Spoons" from 1982 until 1987. (Getty Images)
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a bulletin to local and state law enforcement agencies that it has received reports that truckers are planning to "potentially block roads in major metropolitan cities" in a protest against vaccine mandates and other issues.
The agency said the convoy could begin in Southern California as early as this weekend, possibly disrupting traffic around the Super Bowl, and reach Washington in March in time for the State of the Union address, according to a copy of Tuesday’s bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
The White House said the department is "surging additional staff" to the Super Bowl just in case.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Ambassador Bridge is the busiest U.S.-Canadian border crossing, carrying 25% of all trade between the two countries, and the effects of the blockade there were felt rapidly.
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Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, speaks to members of the media in the foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. (David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Hundreds of demonstrators in trucks have also paralyzed the streets of downtown Ottawa for almost two weeks now, and have closed three border crossings: at Windsor; at Coutts, Alberta, opposite Montana; and at Emerson, Manitoba, across from North Dakota.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The protesters are decrying vaccine mandates for truckers and other COVID-19 restrictions and are railing against Trudeau, even though many of Canada’s precautions, such as mask rules and vaccine passports for getting into restaurants, theaters and other places, were enacted by provincial authorities, not the federal government, and are already rapidly being lifted as the omicron surge levels off.
Trudeau continued to stand firm against lifting vaccine mandates, including a requirement that all truck drivers entering the country be fully vaccinated. But because an estimated 90% of the nation’s truckers are already inoculated, some conservatives have called on the prime minister to drop the mandate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.