On Sunday, as New York City set its single-day record for new COVID-19 cases, a small crowd traveled across the city’s boroughs in search of Panera Bread franchises.
“When they ask me for my passport,” one man said, in reference to the proof of vaccination required for indoor New York City dining, “this is what I’m gonna give to them.” He held up a pamphlet with the texts of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
COVID-19 cases are up, fueled by the virus’s highly contagious Omicron variant. Also swarming the nation’s malls and chain restaurants are anti-vaccine activists who spend weekends and evenings feuding with retail workers over COVID measures. In Oregon, it’s a Proud Boy-linked group heckling REI employees on a livestream. And in New York, it’s a band of vaccine opponents repeatedly getting arrested in fast-casual restaurants.
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Since September, restaurants in the city have required diners to show proof of vaccination before eating indoors. More than 80 percent of the city’s adults are fully vaccinated. But a coterie of vaccine opponents have spent the past days raising holiday hell for staff at restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, Applebee’s, Shake Shack, and Panera Bread.
Their week-long blitz began last Tuesday, with what they described as a “sit-in” at a Cheesecake Factory in the city’s Queens Center Mall. There, anti-vaxxers skipped a check-in line to seat themselves at tables, apparently with the intent to attract a police presence.
“About 30 people getting ready to get arrested let’s see what happens,” one captioned a video of the scene.
Eventually, the restaurant did call police, who attempted to mediate with the group’s leaders.
“We’re here to just tell you—we’re not doing anything right now,” an NYPD officer said in footage of the standoff. “We’re telling you, the manager has now asked you to leave. That’s why we asked to speak to someone in charge, so you can go talk amongst yourselves. So they’re asking you to leave”—
—“They actually said they weren’t going to serve [us],” a demonstrator interjected.
“Well, that’s their decision. If you guys refuse to leave, we’re going to give you every opportunity to leave, but if you refuse to leave when we tell you to leave, we will be arresting you for criminal trespassing.”
Four demonstrators were eventually arrested, one group member claimed in a Tuesday night video. Footage from the Cheesecake Factory shows one man comparing the incident to racist segregation while being escorted from the premises, while another told police not to handcuff him because he was on their side.
“I’m not gonna fight with you,” he said. “I’m with you. You don’t have to put the handcuffs on me because I’m going to go down with you. It doesn’t matter.”
The Cheesecake Factory issued a statement condemning the incident.
“The events that took place at our Queens, NY restaurant on 12/14 were unfortunate,” the cake conglomerate announced last week. “The health and safety of our staff members and guests is our top priority and we are complying with the local ordinance concerning Covid-19 vaccine requirements.”
Undeterred, vaccine opponents announced a renewed attempt on the Cheesecake Factory the following day, although the restaurant appears to have closed preemptively.
“the restaurant was closed for dine in service this evening and being guarded by dozens of police,” one vaccine opponent tweeted that night. “We hit shake Shack and apple bees instead.”
Those dinners also led to conflict, with anti-vaxxers announcing a sit-in at Shake Shack before ultimately being arrested again for an encore act in Applebee’s. (One arrestee soon scored an interview on Fox News’s Ingraham Angle, where host Laura Ingraham thanked her for dispensing “important information.”)
Anti-vaccine or anti-mask demonstrations in shopping centers like the Queens Center Mall have popped up cyclically during the pandemic. A now-defunct Facebook page invited Los Angeles residents to join coordinated swarms of shopping centers earlier this year, while an Arizona-based livestreaming group has gone further, charging unmasked into a wig shop that requires facial coverings because it serves cancer patients.
But this latest blitz, on both coasts, signals a renewed effort, just in time for a crushing new COVID wave. Days after the Applebee’s arrests, retail workers in Oregon experienced their own headache, as a Proud Boys organizer promoted a call for a maskless shopping spree in the Clackamas Town Center. This time, the event came with a detailed schedule, directing demonstrators through a Dick’s Sporting Goods, a Macy’s, a Sephora, a Barnes and Noble, a food court, and an REI.
Participants livestreamed the march, noting when retail employees seemed annoyed with their presence.
“It’s sad how we’re not acting like we’re together,” one livestreamer bemoaned as the group circled around a cash register. “We’ve got some REI employees who are just sort of pacing, pretty upset, pretty upset.”
One of her peers plopped himself on the floor at the checkout aisle’s exit.
“Just sitting on the floor,” he said, grinning. The group has since announced plans to hold another maskless shopping spree.
In New York, vaccine opponents have also continued the unwelcome outings, visiting Panera Bread franchises in Manhattan and the Bronx on Sunday. One filmed herself pretending to pick up a takeout order, then sitting at a table with other demonstrators to eat.
One of her fellow diners expressed thanks for the shared meal, claiming that he had lost his job for his anti-vaccine stance. “Times have been tough ever since I lost my job because I wouldn’t take the shot,” he said.
When the group refused to leave, Panera staff announced that they were closing six hours early.
Footage from the restaurant shows it vacant except for the anti-vaccine crowd, which stuck around to film the pastry display case and argue with workers.
“After you guys leave, there’s damage control we have to go through,” a Panera employee told the crowd as it stood in a now-empty order line. “That’s selfish, to us. That’s why I said that’s no way to do it.”
“You wouldn’t have to do it if you just served us,” a demonstrator shouted back.
