There was a protest held against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Washington, D.C. by the name of the ‘Defeat the Mandates’ march. People gathered by the thousands in the capital city on Sunday, with the sole purpose to protest the nationwide implementation of vaccine mandates, which there has not been much strict implementation of anyway.
There have been several policies related to vaccines implemented in major cities throughout the country, including vaccine requirements in place for any outdoor activity at gyms, clubs, restaurants, etc.
Will Witt, among the march organizers of the ‘Defeat the Mandates’ march said, “You’re going to hear a lot of people talk about on the left say this is a big, anti-vax rally — it’s people coming in to deny science. But this march is about the mandate, and this march is about the Draconian measures that we’re seeing all across this country right now, especially in places like D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco.”
Despite his proclamation, there were several and more common anti-vax slogans and imagery at the ‘Defeat the Mandates’ march than there were for anti-vaccine mandates. Several controversial figures, many of whom have been outed for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine and the statistics on Covid’s mortality rate, were present at the rally. This includes anti-mandate virologist, Dr. Robert Wallace Malone, son of former senator and attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy, known for his conspiracy theories, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with Lara Logan conservative CBS News correspondent recently dropped by her agency.
Freelance journalist, Sergio Olmos, made a long thread on Twitter, documenting the entire rally. She highlights several freedom-related slogans, and several other inappropriate and problematic comparisons made at the rally between people comparing the mandates to the violence and cruelty inflicted during Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
“We the people will not comply” demonstrators chant in a march against vaccine mandates.
They head towards the Lincoln memorial in Washington, D.C.” read one of the tweets from the thread, followed by another one saying, “Some demonstrators are using holocaust imagery, including Star of David armbands, to liken vaccine mandates to the way Jews were treated in Nazi Germany.”
