Five individuals were arrested Monday night after a group of anti-vaxxers stormed a Burger King in downtown Brooklyn, New York to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates that recently went into effect citywide.
Videos of the protest at 417 Fulton Street circulated online, with many of them leaving as soon as officers with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrived.
NYC antivaxxers, some wearing MLK images, storm a Burger King to protest vaccine mandates and begin cussing at each other. Many scatter when the NYPD show up.pic.twitter.com/5pJGLQGfnA— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1640649554
But few videos of the event have captured as much attention as one featuring a woman proclaiming that she and her cohort can't be kicked out of Burger King because "it's open to the public."
She doubles down when informed that Burger King is, in fact, a private business, telling officers:
"No it's not. If it was private, they would do it [allow people to order food] by appointment only."
Another antivaxxer argues with police that Burger King is a public facility and not a private business that can deny service.\n\n\u201cIf [Burger King] was private they would do it by appointments only.\u201d\n\nThese are the same people pretending to be experts on the vaccine.pic.twitter.com/Z2YmgbNCuB— PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@PatriotTakes \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1640693154
They did their own research on Burger King. https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid \ud83d\ude37 (@Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid \ud83d\ude37) 1640719252
The woman's remarks show a remarkable lack of comprehension of the right of businesses to refuse service.
Businesses have a legal right to decline to provide their goods or services to customers provided they aren’t discriminating against certain customers and violating federal anti-discrimination laws on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability.
Those who refuse to abide by the recommendations of public health experts and comply with New York City's COVID-19 vaccine mandate are not a protected class.
New York City's private-sector vaccine mandate, which went into effect this week, requires nearly 185,000 businesses to track vaccine proof for employees. It also requires anyone aged 12 and up to show proof of full vaccination to eat indoors at New York City restaurants or enter other indoor venues, like movie theaters, gyms or arenas.
The mandate comes as the city deals with a surge of COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, which is more contagious than prior variants, including Delta. The mandate was announced earlier this month, just days after the city reported its first Omicron case.
The woman's claim exposed her and her fellow anti-vaxxers to significant mockery on social media.
You Limp Noodles. It\u2019s a private business https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— M-A.Stay\u2019Legit \u2122\ufe0f\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea (@M-A.Stay\u2019Legit \u2122\ufe0f\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea) 1640693709
Anti-Vaxxers won't get the vaccine because,...\n\n ... they "don't know what's in it".\n\n So to show their outrage, they invade a Burger King, demanding,... \n\n ... their right to put bacon burgers and chicken nuggets in their bodies:https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— Roshan Rinaldi (@Roshan Rinaldi) 1640720469
Picking Burger King to be your antivax battleground is a WILD movehttps://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— It\u2019s Not Bobby (@It\u2019s Not Bobby) 1640719546
Lol what an idiot. Burger King is sovereign territory, it's right in the name.https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— \ud83e\udd8eSwampLizard\ud83e\udd8e (@\ud83e\udd8eSwampLizard\ud83e\udd8e) 1640732299
These are the dumbest people alive.https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— Jake Karmel (@Jake Karmel) 1640714693
Defenders of capitalism who don't understand what private property means.https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— Spaghetti Kozak Media (@Spaghetti Kozak Media) 1640717464
10 sec google search \n#TuesdayVibe #COVIDIOTS https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/lwALM43l2z— Steviuses Catmas \ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b (@Steviuses Catmas \ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b) 1640729205
But now I am captivated with wonder at the thought of a by-appointment-only Burger King.\n\nNow I can truly have it my way. And the password is \u201cFidelio.\u201dhttps://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— Little Russ, Son of Big Russ, Son of Salvatore (@Little Russ, Son of Big Russ, Son of Salvatore) 1640714385
One consistent thing about people who are dumb as fuck is that they\u2019re dumb as fuck about literally everything.https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1475800172059758593\u00a0\u2026— Richard Marx (@Richard Marx) 1640727156
According to Sergeant Edward Riley, a spokesperson for the NYPD, five arrests occurred at approximately 7:34 a.m.
Five men–Michael Mitchell, 36, of Brooklyn; Augusto Alarcon, 39, of the Bronx; Ethan Boisvert, 41, of Queens; Mitchell Bosch, 41, of Brooklyn; and Bradford Solomon, 44, of Queens–were charged with trespassing.
Earlier this year, Bosch participated in the January 6 insurrection, which took place when a mob of former President Donald Trump's stormed the United States Capitol on the false premise the 2020 general election had been stolen.
Special thanks to @patriottakes for posting a video of an anti-vax demonstration that recently took place at an NYC Burger King.\n\nThe guy at the center of it looked familiar from the Capitol on Jan6, and after a bit of clip sifting, here he is\u2014#IAmMitchellBosch on the west side:pic.twitter.com/mkNlVZuDJ7— Cory Cullington (@Cory Cullington) 1640666675
This is Bosch's third arrest this month. He was previously arrested during protests at a Cheesecake Factory and Applebee’s.
