A convoy of trucks that had gathered outside a California lawmaker’s house over the weekend to protest her support of an abortion rights bill was forced to leave the area after crossing paths with a group of young people armed with eggs.
The people’s convoy, inspired by Canadian truckers who shut down roads to protest vaccine mandates, arrived in the Bay Area last week after weeks of demonstrations in Washington DC.
On Friday, about 20 drivers filled the road near the home of Buffy Wicks, a Democratic assemblymember, honking, and using bullhorns to demand she leave her home. The group was reportedly protesting legislation Wicks wrote that would end coroner investigations of stillbirths, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, and require state businesses to mandate Covid vaccines for their employees.
The convoy, however, drew fierce opposition from neighbors, who told the drivers to leave the residential street, SF Gate reported. Wicks called law enforcement for protection, and the trucks dispersed when police responded to the scene.
When the convoy got stuck in traffic outside an Oakland Safeway, however, a group of residents began throwing eggs at the stalled vehicles, shouting “get the fuck out of here”, according to video of the incident. Passersby partook as well, grabbing eggs and tossing them at trucks scrawled with phrases such as “Let’s go Brandon”, a coded term among Trump supporters to insult Joe Biden, as they drove by. Many of those throwing eggs at the group were kids who cheered each other on and then fled after running out of eggs.
Some jumped out of their vehicles and engaged in heated confrontations with those throwing eggs.
“We’re fighting for your freedoms too,” a protester yelled at the kids, the SF Gate reported.
The group fled back to their base in Sacramento, complaining about their icy reception and dirty vehicles.
“Bullhorns and loud trucks lend no legitimacy to baseless conspiracy theories from out of state protesters,” Erin Ivie, a spokesperson for Wicks’ office, told the Mercury News. “Wicks will not indulge any attempts to influence her legislative work through harassment and intimidation tactics – especially when it’s directed at her home and her family.”
