Canadian trucker challenging government: 'We will not back down'
Tensions between Canadian Freedom Convoy 2022 and police heat up
Canadian trucker: Government treating truckers as ‘second class citizens'
Canadian trucker Patrick King discusses the Freedom Convoy protests.
As tensions between protesters and Ottawa police escalate, Patrick King, the Trucker’s Freedom Convoy co-founder, told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney "we will not back down."
On Friday, police moved in on the main area where protests have been taking place. On Thursday night, police began arresting demonstrators, including two of the movement organizers. However, King said demonstrations would remain peaceful.
"It will never come down to violence. Those people have nothing to do with our trucks. They're there to fight for their rights and freedoms and that is allowed under our constitution."
Although the police were moving in real force and have the capability to clear out trucks and protesters, King pleaded for drivers to "stand fast and just hold the line for a little bit" and "let us figure it out."
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"Right now, we're in negotiations. We're discussing some different contingency plans on what we'd like to do. We will be doing a press conference here in a little bit," he explained.
Tensions rising between Freedom Convoy protesters and police
FOX Business’ Grady Trimble reports from Ottawa, Ontario as police start cracking down on Freedom Convoy protesters.
When Varney asked whether any deals have been struck with the Trudeau government to move if they dropped the vax mandate, King responded: "Those were our demands… we will move if they drop all mandates."
"But with our government right now, we're second-class citizens compared to the liberal government," he continued. "So they don't even want to discuss anything with us. They don't care. They're running this country like communism and well, in communism you don't have a voice."
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Meanwhile, American truckers are planning a convoy to Washington D.C. next month. King stressed it’s important to "stand your ground" appropriately.
"Hold your line. Do this peacefully. Do it nice. Do it professionally. We are professional drivers. We know what we're doing and let's do this properly without any violence or anything that happens to any of the citizens," he said.