A group of anti-vaccine protesters have gathered outside of Harlowe’s in West Hollywood in opposition to their policy requiring proof of vaccination/a negative COVID test. They’ve been chanting “my body, my choice” and “change the policy.”
This protest was in response to a move by the 1933 Group, a hospitality group representing 11 bars & restaurants in LA including Harlowe’s, which implemented the vaccine/COVID test policy at all its locations.
Earlier today, Jason Lefkowitz, the organizer of the protest at Harlowe’s called one of the owners to “demand” the policy be changed. He threatened to “ruin your businesses” by provoking Antifa to show up and create and “unsafe” environment.
“This is not an empty threat.”
Lefkowitz organized a similar protest at Crossroad’s Kitchen on Saturday. Yesterday, citing worsening COVID numbers, Crossroads announced an end to indoor dining and the policy.
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A group of anti-vaccine protesters went to Crossroads Kitchen on Melrose tonight to protest the restaurant’s requirement of proof of vaccination or negative COVID test to dine in. Jason Lefkowitz, organizer of the Dodger Stadium vax site protest in Jan., streamed the encounter.
Lefkowitz, who is the one speaking most audibly in the clip, can be heard saying “seig heil” repeatedly. I don’t know if he was doing this ironically, as to suggest that the proof of vax requirement is as oppressive as Nazi Germany.
The clip has been shared around other anti-vaccine/anti-mask telegram channels and Instagram accounts.
Today, a group of protesters staged a series of “maskless shopping” protests in stores across Westwood in defiance of LA’s new indoor masking order. Los Angeles has seen a large surge in COVID-19 cases in the last 2 weeks, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
The event was organized by an Arizona man named Ethan Schmidt, who posts videos of himself on his telegram channel harassing people wearing masks. He also promoted the WiSpa protest yesterday.
The group first went to Bristol Farms on Westwood Blvd. Staff asked them to wear masks, but said they could not do more to enforce the requirement. Two LAPD officers arrived later, though they did not get involved.
At Beverly Gardens Park in Beverly Hills, where people have gathered in solidarity with protesters in Cuba. A small group of right wing protesters have shown up for the Freedom Rally, which is scheduled to resume for weekly gatherings today.
Here is the Freedom Rally group, many of whom were at the Wi Spa protest earlier today.
One protester says that she is there to support the right for Cubans to speak. “It has nothing to do with Socialism. It’s simple; we’re here for freedom.”
At Wi Spa in koreatown, where LGBTQ and leftist activists have gathered for a second time to counter a protest against trans access to the spa’s facilities. Police are out in force today and have cordoned off the front of the spa. Protesters have not arrived.
One activist has shown up in a full unicorn costume
Arthur Schaefer, head of the California chapter of the anti-LGBTQ group Mass Resistance, falls back behind police lines after activists push him.
At Wi Spa in K Town, where a counter protesters have gathered in support of trans access to the spa’s facilities. A protest is scheduled for 11 after a video went viral of a woman complaining of a trans woman in the spa. The story was featured on Tucker Carlson.
Multiple violent skirmishes have broken out, with activists pushing protesters away from the area and two violent assaults against counter-protests with a pipe that I witnessed.
Here’s footage of an independent journalist getting hit in the head with a pipe-like object.
At John Adams Middle School/Will Rogers Elementary in Santa Monica, where anti-mask activists are protesting public safety guidelines requiring masks in school.
Multiple SMPD cruisers nearby.
This is the third such protest in Los Angeles that I’ve documented.
A man walking a dog yells at the protesters to “get the fuck out of my neighborhood.”
A woman tells a protester that she has lost 3 family members to covid. The anti-masker says “it probably wasn’t even Covid that killed them.“