Thousands to attend BBQ in front of Australian vegan’s home who fought with neighbors over barbecuing

PERTH, Australia - Thousands of people plan to attend a barbecue in front of the home of a vegan Australian woman who took her neighbors to court over the smell of meat cooking in their own backyard.

Cilla Carden, who lives in Perth, has been in a court battle with her neighbor, Toan Vu, since 2018. She claims the smell of their barbecued meat and fish became so overwhelming she couldn’t be in her backyard.

She also said her neighbors’ cigarette smoke would go into her yard and that she can’t stand the sound of children playing basketball near her home.

When she spoke with a 9News, a local news outlet, she said everything her neighbors appeared to be doing was “deliberate.”

But her neighbors told the outlet he wanted to stay on good terms with Carden, stating he removed the barbecue from his backyard and told his children to stop playing basketball.

Still, when Carden took the situation to Western Australia’s Western Supreme Court, her case was dismissed. She requested to appeal the decision, but has been denied as well.

After news of her story made headlines, she said she’d received a lot of backlash, according to news.com.au.

Part of that backlash includes a Facebook event called “Community BBQ for Cilla Carden,” where thousands of people have talked about holding a mass barbecue in front of her house. It’s planned for Oct. 19, according to the post.

As of Wednesday, 6,000 people have said they’ll attend and 14,000 are interested.

“Don’t let Cilla destroy a good old Aussie tradition, join us for a community BBQ in protest of her actions, and help Cilla Carden GET SOME PORK ON HER FORK,” the event said, in part.

It later posted an edit, urging people that it was a “peaceful protest” and that “nobody is permitted to enter Mrs. Carden’s property. Instead the front yards of participating neighbors will be available for use.”

Carden appeared to be aware of the event and told her lawyer to take legal action, if necessary.

In a Facebook post that isn’t available to the public, her lawyer John Hammond issued a warning that police would be called over trespassing for those who attend the barbecue, according to news.com.au.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.