Zexi Li got an injunction to stop the blaring horns

THEY DIDN’T BUDGE. The three women on Cooper Street in Ottawa stood their ground. It was their street. They stared down the driver in the big rig. Marika Morris stood in the middle of the street to block his way. She gave him a thumbs down every time he blasted his big rig horn. It didn’t frighten the three of them off.

It was January 31 in Ottawa. A quiet Monday morning on Cooper Street in their centretown neighbourhood seven blocks south of Parliament Hill and Lise Lebeau, Andrea Colbert and Marika Morris meant to keep it that way.

They described how their stand-off with the truckers all happened in an interview with the CBC:

Lebeau
We were coming from different places. And we met in front of our building and then this guy with this huge truck came and tooting. And I said, “This is awful. Awful. Let’s go and stop him.”

. . .

Morris
They were up high in their cab of the truck, right? Looking down on us. We
couldn’t hear anything they had to say, and they didn’t want to hear us. So I
wanted to communicate to them that we just did not support what they’re
doing. So I just did a thumbs down every time he honked his horn. I did a
thumbs down. And so there were a lot of thumbs down.

Colbert
It wasn’t an easy thing to do, .... All of us are a certain age. We’ve been fighting a long time for women’s rights. We’re kind of used to it, but that was scary. I mean, that’s a huge truck. They’re bullies. It’s not easy to stand up to a bully....

Morris
But I figured that they wouldn’t come out and assault three women of our age, because that wouldn’t look good on camera. That’s for sure.

Dare to stand alone

Zexi Li made her stand seven days later.

The 21-year old public service worker filed a statement of claim for a proposed $9.8-million class action against the truckers, along with a request for a court injunction that would prohibit any of the participants in the truckers’ convoy protest from using vehicle horns in the vicinity of downtown Ottawa.

A judge granted the anti-honking injunction.

Downtown residents were subjected to relentless honking, random fireworks and choking diesel fumes from trucks parked near their homes. They’ve expressed outrage over the open display of hate symbols, and some say they’ve been the target of racial, homophobic and transphobic slurs. Others claim they’ve been attacked for wearing masks.

“I kind of intentionally put a target on my back,” said Li, “ but really, I’m more than happy to do so, if it means that I can make a difference for the community.

Tin pot protest

Another Ottawa man decided to give the protestors a taste of their own medicine. A video posted on Twitter shows him whaling away on a pot with a ladle to make as much noise as he can, while surrounded by people who appear to be with the protest.

When they ask him to stop, he bangs his pot louder than ever.

“He doesn’t like freedom,” says one protestor, as the group walks away. The pot banger follows them, still banging away.

But he continues bravely banging. Then the group walks away from the man, telling him he is not worth it.

Many tweeted out support for the pot banger. One tweeter said: “Can we give this man the Order of Canada?! The irony of them being unhappy with his noise, is STAGGERING.”

The Battle of Billings Bridge

The most striking example of positive people power came with the so-called Battle of Billings Bridge. It was a spur-of-the-moment action, taken by members of a dog walking Facebook group, that swelled to include at least one thousand everyday people.

Sean Burges discovered a convoy of truckers was going to pass by his Billings Bridge neighbourhood in south Ottawa on Sunday, February 13. He thought maybe some neighbours might be ready to join him Sunday morning to briefly block the convoy from free-wheeling their way up to Parliament Hill. He posted his idea to his neighbourhood Facebook dog walking group.

About two dozen people joined him at the appointed intersection on Sunday morning at 9 a.m, It was enough to corral about 35 vehicles in the convoy, mostly pickup trucks. Local traffic was waved through.

Police arrived within minutes. Dozens more volunteers showed up, then hundreds.

Minutes turned to hours. They chanted and marched around in circles to keep warm. Supporters brought so much pizza, coffee and doughnuts that the surplus was diverted to a shelter downtown.

Decision by consensus

Decisions were made by consensus. As the hours rolled by, “discussion circles” were held to decide the conditions for releasing the trucks. No one wanted the trucks to be able to turn around and go downtown using some other route, or to head back to the supply base on Coventry Road.

Eventually the truck drivers in the convoy were permitted a “negotiated retreat” —they were allowed to leave one at a time, but only after their trucks had been stripped of flags, and “Freedom Convoy” stickers, and surrendered any jerry cans full of fuel.

“Most of the people I spoke to were surprised at the resistance,” said Sean Devine. “I think the convoy is under the false impression that they have unwavering popular support. It helps them to see opposition.”

“I would definitely do it again,” said Gillian Carter, who was one of the first to join the blockade. “It was so organic. It was galvanizing for the community.

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