The Anti-Vax Trucker Convoy Made a Crucial Mistake Playing Oakland
The popular convoy blocks roads in protest against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
All seemed well for the convoy of anti-vaccine truckers’ triumphant return to California, but then they drove to Oakland.
Convoy participants made a crucial mistake when they decided to protest a local politician (who proposed an abortion bill they oppose) and drove to the quiet neighborhood of Oakland to Rockridge. As recounted in a YouTube video by Rise Imagesthe truckers were run over by the Oaklanders, swore at, had their progress blocked by a man simply standing in the road and, of course, got their big rigs.
The counter-protesters had ample resources, with supply lines amply filled with eggs ready to be thrown against the chromium and the unvaccinated.
A trucker, angry at the slowly oozing yolk on the side of his truck, came face-to-face with a mask-wearing resident who was happily tossing eggs.
“Hey, do you have a problem?
“No,” replied the resident coldly.
As the trucker angrily drove away, the masked man calmly continued to egg his truck. Attempting revenge for the attack, the trucker pulled out his deadliest weapon and began sounding his horn. In response, the counter-protesters brought out a full dish of eggs and, well, I’m sure you can put two and two together.
the daily beast reported that the freedom-loving, vaccine-hating truckers were so shaken by the eggs that they called the police, who ignored their complaints.
It’s been more than two months since the big rigs left Adelanto, California on February 23 en route to a highway a few hours from Washington DC to protest mostly non-existent COVID-19 regulations (they had too scared for a long trip to downtown DC) Truckers had a blast there. They set up a staging ground on a freeway in Hagerstown, Maryland, circled the ring road several times, took Ted Cruz for a fun little ride in a big truck, were defeated by a single cyclist and are almost torn because of a DJ named Ricky Bobby. Organizers decided to leave the area and travel to California to join other anti-vax protesters, like Project Unity, in protesting a series of upcoming bills.
The group has organized in opposition to COVID-19 health regulations, particularly the federal declaration of emergency established in 2020. Almost all of these health regulations have been rescinded in the United States, but that matters little to the group whose supporters and participants swim in a sea of conspiracies and focus on a wide variety of right-wing grievances.
The so-called “people’s convoy” is now camped out at Sacramento Raceway. Here, just like they did in Hagerstown, they’ve set up a staging ground where they hold speeches, camp, park their trucks and plan who to mess with next.
Since arriving in California, the truckers’ new tactic has been to demonstrate directly in front of politicians’ homes. This took them deep into the residential neighborhoods of California cities and what brought them into battle against the egg-carrying Oaklanders.
Screenshots of a chat affiliated with a convoy in which supporters complain about leggings. Photo by telegram.
In focus groups for convoy attendees and supporters, the now infamous Oakland incident was a sore point for some supporters. “I’m so sick of these lefties I wish there was a way to ship them to China,” one wrote. “They can try that egg toss over there…” Another called them a “kid abusing pedos.”
“Wasn’t it convenient that the egg flats were right on the sidewalk?” a man posted conspiratorially about the known public protest. “It seems they have been warned.”
Like any right-wing movement, bickering between truckers is a regular occurrence, and the decision to return to California has caused a spat. Some of those who had camped in the Hagerstown parking lot did not want to leave and actively resisted the organizer’s decision and stayed.
The small group that remained at first contented themselves with broadcasting live and complaining about conspiracies, but eventually gave themselves a name: the “American Freedom Convoy”. This group is now, of course, organizing its own convoys. So now there are conspiratorial truck convoys on the west coast and on the east coast. The “American Convoy for Freedom” recently traveled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where for some reason they presented a plaque to Brian Brase, a former leader of the “People’s Convoy” who is now in retirement.
Brase had taken time away from the group following their decision to leave the Speedway and eventually parted ways with the group recently. Now, on the front page of the “People’s Convoy” website, a note in bold red print reads “Brian Brase is no longer an organizer or affiliate of the People’s Convoy and has no authority to speak on behalf of of the people’s convoy”. In an April 22 Facebook livestream, Brase said he was surprised by the post and “didn’t agree with a lot of what’s going on,” but urged his followers not to turn on the light. convoy.
The convoys were inspired by the much larger and much more successful convoys in Canada, which shut down the nation’s capital for weeks and required significant police intervention to ultimately eliminate them. While the US convoy managed to catch the attention of some media-hungry right-wing politicians, their protest went largely under the radar. But not so much for the people of Rockridge, who despite the incessant honking of truckers, weren’t afraid to tell them what they think.
In one scene from the video, a group of teenagers pelted passing convoy vehicles with eggs and encouraged anti-vaxxers to “roll down their windows”. Most didn’t, and those who did quickly learned their mistake. A conveyor was baited when the crowd heckled him with cries of “coward”.
“I’m a coward?” he asked angrily after rolling down his window.
He was hit in the face with an egg almost immediately afterwards.
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