By Catherine Potente and Sofia Leguria
OAKLAND, CA – A convoy of trucks was driven out of the Bay Area last week by young people armed with eggs, following the trucker protest outside the house of a California lawmaker who supported an abortion rights bill.
The convoy of trucks was referred to as the “people’s convoy” and they made their presence known in the Bay Area last week following their demonstrations in Washington, DC. The convoy is inspired by Canadian truckers who protested vaccine mandates and shut down roads as a result of their protest.
About 20 drivers filled the road near Buffy Wicks’ home, a Democratic assemblymember. The group honked and demanded the assemblymember leave her home.
The convoy protested legislation written by Wicks that would reportedly end coroner investigations of stillbirths.
Assembly Bill 2223 was written to protect women against being liable in criminal and civil court in the event of any abortion or infant death in pregnancy, said Wicks, and Gov. Newson has said, “We will be a sanctuary.”
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the legislation also would require state businesses to administer COVID vaccine mandates to their employees.
Wicks has been very open about her own abortion she had when she was 26 years old. She has also tweeted about a miscarriage that forced her to have an abortion in September.
In an interview when asked why she tweeted this personal information she stated, “I was just infuriated when I was listening to the Supreme Court discussion around Roe v. Wade. We felt like this decision has been made. As a nation, we believe that women should have access to abortion care and this is just our reality. The fact that it is being so severely undermined is just infuriating to me.”
Wicks had to call law enforcement to her home when the large group of trucks gathered outside her house.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that people came from all over the nation—Minnesota license plates were noted—to protest.
The SF Gate reported that the convoy dispersed after police presence on the scene and opposition from the assemblymember’s neighbors telling the convoy to leave the residential street.
The convoy became stuck in traffic by an Oakland Safeway, where residents and passersby started to throw eggs at the stopped vehicles while yelling at the trucks to get out of the area.
The trucks allegedly had “Let’s go Brandon” written on them. This phrase is used among Trump supporters and is “code” for an insult to Joe Biden.
The egg throwers consisted of kids who then fled after running out of eggs.
Angered by the kids, a couple of the truck drivers came out of their vehicles to yell, “We’re fighting for your freedoms, too,” reported the SF Gate.
“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.
Ivie went on to state, “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.”
