Five anti-vaccine protesters were arrested by NYPD officers on Tuesday after they stormed a Burger King in Downtown Brooklyn and refused to leave.
The protesters, none of whom were masked, were caught on video screaming at the store’s employees after they were refused service. New York City currently requires proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to eat indoors.
“If you decide to hold the line, you must go down non-violently,” a protester can be heard saying in the video as NYPD officers surround him. “Remember what you was taught in school, especially if you got pigmentation on your skin, right? This is where we’re at right now, right? This is not right gentlemen and we all know that, we all got anger.”
The protester is then seen in the video kneeling down as officers move in to arrest him and the other four men. Civilians can be heard screaming “shame on you!” as the arrests are made.
Police later told the New York Post that after being taken into custody by police, the five men are facing charges including remaining unlawfully inside the Burger King and trespassing. The names of those arrested are Michael Mitchell, 36, Augusto Alarcon, 39, Ethan Boisvert, 41, Mitchell Bosch, 41, and Bradford Solomon, 44.
Six anti-vax protesters were also arrested earlier this month in Queens after they staged a sit-in at a Cheesecake Factory and refused to show proof of vaccination.
The protests come as New York City’s private sector vaccine mandate takes effect this week, requiring employees at 184,000 businesses to be fully vaccinated.
Check out a video of the incident below.
