WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said on Wednesday that it has authorised the deployment of hundreds of unarmed National Guard personnel in Washington, D.C., as truck convoys prepare to conduct protests.

According to Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved the deployment of 400 District of Columbia National Guard members and 50 vehicles to assist the Metropolitan Police Department at specified traffic checkpoints.

Austin has also approved the deployment of up to 300 National Guard members from adjacent states to assist U.S. Capitol Police officers with traffic control operations at specified perimeter stations. The deployed troops will not be carrying firearms, participating in law enforcement, or conducting domestic surveillance.

The Capitol Police recently stated that law enforcement agencies throughout the National Capital Region are "aware of plans for a series of truck convoys" to arrive in the United States capital around the time of US President Joe Biden's first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on March 1.

Truckers in Canada blocked city traffic and border crossings with the United States for weeks earlier this year in protest of the country's COVID-19 restrictions, leading some Americans to organise similar rallies.

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