Trucker loses his cool when environmental protesters block road in Chicago, and stands his ground

A Chicago trucker appeared to lose his cool after approaching a group of activists who were blocking a road protesting the destruction of an old coal plant in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.

Around 6:40 a.m. this morning, activists closed down the north and south bound lanes of Pulaski Road. Not to long after, a trucker hopped out of his truck and approached the group of protesters. A video posted on Twitter shows the trucker in the middle of a confrontation with the protesters, and although it clearly does not show what happened before the altercation, the trucker appears pretty ticked off.

During the confrontation between the driver and what appeared to be between 20-30 protesters, the driver was clearly outnumbered, but non-the-less appeared to hold his ground, pushing several of the protesters as they continued towards him. While local media reporting by the Block Club, who first reported on the story, appears to interpret the video one way, the driver seems to just want to do his job and can be heard pleading with the protesters to move so he can get back to work.

“Back away,” the driver tells the protesters as they continue to approach him. “Get out of the intersection, we are all trying to work here,” he says pointing at a long line of trucks and personal vehicles stopped in the road due to the protesters.

Another video catches the camera angle from within the group of protesters.

A third video shows the group of “peaceful” protesters surrounding a blue SUV, which appears to be a firefighter, preventing the uniformed officer from moving. The video then pans to the altercation with the truck driver.

A fourth video shows the protesters preventing the firefighter from leaving.