'People's Convoy' Gets a Messy Calif. Welcome

Trucks were pelted with eggs when they showed up in Oakland
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2022 9:40 AM CDT

Over the past few weeks, the "People's Convoy" of protesters pushing back against COVID mandates has been making its way back from Washington, DC to California. And on Friday it found itself in Oakland, though the welcoming committee there likely wasn't what drivers expected. Per the Sacramento Bee, counterdemonstrators showed up to greet the big rigs and other vehicles, with some locals hurling eggs at them as they cruised down the street. SFGate notes that some trucks with their windows rolled down ended up with some of the mess inside their vehicles. A video shows the truckers blaring their horns in one neighborhood, with some of the residents gathered on the sidewalk shouting (sometimes profanely) and throwing eggs that someone had purchased at a nearby Safeway.

"We're fighting for your freedoms, too," one of the convoy participants yelled back at the irritated bystanders. One shouted back to the drivers: "Get out of our town!," per the Washington Post. SFGate notes that nearly all major COVID restrictions have been lifted in the weeks since the convoys in the US and abroad started, which has led the drivers to switch their grievances to "other conservative causes." One of the objects of their ire on Friday: State Assembly member Buffy Wicks, a Bay Area Democrat who recently proposed a bill advocating for vaccine mandates, as well as one that would keep coroners from investigating stillbirths and other lost pregnancies.

The convoy made its way to the street outside her home, honking their horns and demanding she come out, per the Mercury News. The assemblywoman "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," her spokesperson told the paper. Local police and the California Highway Patrol told local media that no arrests were made or citations issued, per the Post. The convoy was reportedly next headed toward Sacramento. (More convoy stories.)

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