A 20-kilometer convoy of trucks is heading towards Canada's capital, Ottawa, to protest against a recent compulsory vaccination for truck drivers.
The Canadian government requires truckers crossing the border into Canada from the United States to quarantine for two weeks if they cannot provide proof of vaccination.
Winand von Petersdorff-Campen
Economic correspondent in Washington.
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The convoy, which started in Vancouver, is scheduled to reach Ottawa on Saturday.
Police in the capital estimate that up to 2,000 trucks are involved and that the convoy could continue to grow by the hour.
The Canadian Truck Drivers Association is opposed to the protest.
She estimates that only around 16,000 or 15 percent of truckers are unvaccinated.
Industry associations are now calling for the vaccination requirement to be relaxed.
The government has not presented any evidence that truck drivers play a prominent role in the spread of the disease.
The country's chamber of commerce is calling for the vaccination requirement to be postponed because supply chains are under great pressure.
The industry lobby Canadian Manufacturing Coalition warned of empty shelves in supermarkets should vaccination remain in force.
"He is the greatest threat to Canada's freedom"
Conservative politicians, meanwhile, have jumped on the protest bandwagon in a general fight against restrictions Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has put in place to contain the pandemic.
Andrew Scheer, a prominent conservative politician, spread his sympathy for the protest via Twitter: Trudeau is threatening the supply in supermarkets with his vaccination requirements.
"He is the greatest threat to Canada's freedom."
The Maverick Party, which is campaigning for the western provinces to be separated from Canada, apparently played an important role in organizing the protest. Its Secretary General Tamara Lich has launched a GoFundMe fundraiser for the so-called Freedom Convoy, which as of January 27 had raised $6 million. Among other things, motel overnight stays for the drivers are to be paid for with this.
Trudeau has been adamant so far.
Vaccinations are the most important tool to keep Canada's economy going.
Conservatives would spread fear and terror with their warning of supply shortages for no reason.
The demonstrating truckers are a small minority who are accompanied by people with abstruse and unacceptable ideas.
The Canadian Ministry of Transport seconded by pointing out that the protests had had no measurable effect on border crossings.
They would continue to be around 100,000 a day.