The courier who stopped the convoy in Vancouver explains how it all happened
The first few minutes were terrifying
Photo by:
Tyrone Siglos/tyrone_siglos
Vancouver’s Tyrone Siglos works full-time as a courier so riding his bike around trucks is nothing new. But on Saturday he used it to stop a dump truck that was part of the Vancouver truck convoy. Just like in many other parts of the country, there was a long line of honking trucks and cars that drove through Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley to protest, among other things, vaccine mandates and restrictions relating to COVID-19.
Siglos has been a cyclist for years, but he only began being a courier recently. In 2021 he lost his job due to the pandemic, and decided to start working as a courier. Since he loves cycling, it seemed like a good fit: he gets to ride his bike all day.
And it turns out, the reason he decided to disrupt the convoy was because he knew they would be on his daily work route. “I kind of heard about the convoy situation a couple days earlier just through the social media channels and found out what their leadership was and what they’re actually doing,” he explains. “When I woke up Saturday morning to go work, as soon as I left my house, I heard honking and the blaring horns and I was just like, OK, this is what I’m dealing with today.”
He works near the hospital and felt that the convoy should not be disruptive in that area. “Believe what you want, protest however you want,” he said. “But don’t mess with hospitals. There’s people that have nothing to do with COVID that are also in the hospitals that have to, you know, say goodbye to their loved ones. And the convoy is essentially ruining their last moment.”
After he left his house, he decided he would head take action. “So I was riding along Broadway, which is the main area that I work and I decided right then and there. You know what, I’m going to disrupt these people as much as possible.”
Siglos knew that many of the routes had construction which meant there was only one way to drive. He decided to use his bike as David against Goliath, and ride very slowly, eventually coming to a halt and stopping the convoy. “I mean, I’m not a slow cyclist by any means, but by going super slow and ultimately stopping, I could disrupt them.”
“I’m dragging them along, holding them up, trying to kind of split them up. Essentially. Between lights and whatnot,” he said. “I took that opportunity a couple different times throughout the day to slow them down and basically stopped them right to the point where I stood for 20 minutes or half an hour, and that was when that picture was taken. I figured, I didn’t have to make a pick-up going on right now, so I’m just going to sit here and wait.”
As soon as he stopped, so did the honking. Since the rolling protest was no longer rolling, they stopped hitting their horns. Of course, several people did come out of their truck and told him to move, but he refused.
Given the amount of people behind him, Siglos certainly felt nervous. The first minute, he says, was the worst. “It was definitely a little terrifying. I mean, being a courier I’m around big trucks and ride in traffic, but this was different.”
However, once he saw that other people were encouraging him, he felt a little more confident. “Bystanders saw me and they understood what I was doing,” he said. “People started slowing down and stopping, giving me thumbs up or waves. It was nice having everyone support me.”
The Vancouver convoys continued again on the weekend, but are leaving the metropolitan area and heading closer to the US border to protest, similar to what is happening in Alberta.
