On the second day of the Public Order Emergency Commission, two residents of downtown Ottawa testified the constant honking and idling of trucks during the Freedom Convoy made it "almost impossible," to sleep at night.."Sleep deprivation was one of the first things that affected me personally, and affected the animals I lived with. They seemed quite distressed," Zexi Li testified to the Commission.."It was almost impossible to get a good night's sleep and, if anything, it was low quality because it would be interrupted by a loud horn.".Li, an Ottawa resident who helped secure an injunction against protesters to stop the honking, said during the time of the "occupation," it was difficult to get work done because of the constant noise. Li said her neighbour had a six-month-old baby that couldn't sleep because of the noise.."Sometimes, just to get her to sleep, she had to take the baby out into the hallway as far as the window as possible and bounce her.".Li said when she walked downtown while wearing a mask, the protestors would harass her by telling her to take it off or that she should smile more.."When I chose not to engage, they would blast their horns at me with a smile on their faces, and almost take joy in my flinching and recoiling at the noise.".At one point during the testimony, Li compared to the protest to the movie The Purge, where all crime, including murder, becomes legal during one 12-hour period every year. ."It almost felt you were in something like The Purge, because although I didn't often see any direct acts of violence, there was a certain chaos on the streets, and that feeling of chaos and rule-breaking gradually increased as things progressed.".Victoria De La Ronde testified when the truckers first arrived in Ottawa, she could feel the "excitement and electricity in the air."."At the beginning I thought 'I am so happy to be in a country where there's freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and freedom to assemble. But that sentiment started to crumble," she said..De La londe said the three weeks the protestors were in Ottawa had short and long-term impacts on her physical and mental health.."I had difficulty sleeping and there was an impact on my lungs because of the smoke and fumes," she told the commission Friday, adding months later she is still experiencing a loss of hearing, balance problems, vertigo, and "phantom honking."."I would certainty attribute that to the very loud and constant noise from the horns and the music. Even when the horns stopped for a minute, the trucks idled all night," she said..De La Ronde described feeling "trapped" as there was nowhere, she could go in her apartment unit to escape the constant noise.."It was such an experience of helplessness, especially during the event where the horn blowing was so loud and continuous," she said..The diesel fumes also seeped into De La Londe's apartment, permeating her drapes, bedding and carpet. "The full unit had a dull, gaseous odour about it," she said..De La Ronde, who has a disability, usually relies on food delivery services and taxis, which were interrupted because of the protests. She also said it was difficult to get around the downtown because of the protests.."I was trained to walk with the traffic and walk with the flow. Of course, there was no traffic. It was terrifying. The sound was so high that I couldn't hear any signals that we use to cross. It just was not safe.".During the public hearing, an interactive map showing the noise impacts of the Freedom Convoy was shown. During the first few days, the sound levels downtown reached 110 decibels, similar to the noise made by a lawnmower. ."For myself, it was beyond the sound of a lawnmower," De La Ronde said.
