Anti-vaccine protesters arrested in Queens Center Mall Cheesecake Factory
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Anti-vaccine mandate protesters staged a protest inside Queens Center Mall’s Cheesecake Factory on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. Screenshot via newyorkfreedomrally2/Instagram
By Jacob Kaye
Half a dozen anti-vaccine protesters were cuffed for staging a “sit in” inside the Cheesecake Factory in Queens Center Mall earlier this week.
Six people, two of whom are from Queens, were arrested on Tuesday, Dec. 14, after they blew past the restaurant’s host stand, refused to show proof of vaccination and sat themselves down at several empty tables, according to the NYPD.
A restaurant employee, who had asked the group to leave after they violated the restaurant’s COVID-19 policy, called the cops around 7 p.m., according to the authorities.
Police arrived and charged six of the approximately 30 people in the group with criminal trespassing.
Those arrested include Eric Bascon, a 38-year-old from Yonkers, Mitchell Bosch, a 42-year-old from Brooklyn, Graig Young, a 37-year-old from Queens, Raymond Velez, a 36-year-old from Queens, Augusto Alarcon, a 39-year-old from the Bronx, and Steven Wavra, a 67-year-old from the Bronx.
Six anti-vaccine mandate protesters were arrested in the Queens Center Mall Cheesecake Factory on Dec. 14, 2021. Screenshot via newyorkfreedomrally2/Instagram
An hour-long video posted to Instagram by a user with the account name “newyorkfreedomrally2” shows the incident unfolding.
The group of protesters had spread themselves out across the restaurant, sat down at several tables and at the Cheesecake Factory’s bar, where they claimed they were refused service.
“No drinks, bro,” one of the protesters said to the person filming the video.
One of the people who appeared to be part of the group but not one of the people arrested, was John Tobacco, a former candidate for state comptroller and Staten Island resident who has been arrested for staging anti-mask wearing protests in the past.
The video shows protestors of all ages, including children younger than 10, demanding service. The person filming the video repeatedly asked the NYPD officers what laws the group was breaking.
The protest came a day after a new policy from Governor Kathy Hochul and the state’s Department of Health went into effect. The new policy requires masks be worn inside unless a business requires patrons to show proof of vaccination.
The protest also comes as around 2,900 New Yorkers are testing positive for COVID-19 on a 7 day average.
One of the members of the group recounted a conversation she had with a Cheesecake Factory employee in the video and claims that she had been discriminated against.
“You’re going to discriminate against me because I refuse to show you my vaccination card?” the protester said. “I refuse to give you my medical history even though you know it’s illegal, and he kept saying he knew it was illegal but there was nothing that he could do.”
Refusing service to a person who doesn’t show their vaccination card is not illegal.
At one point in the video, a bartender tells members of the group that he would serve them but was following orders from his superiors not to.
“The Nazis were just following orders,” one of the group members said before being admonished by the person filming who said that they “don’t want to cause a disturbance.”
About 45 minutes into the video, several members of the group begin to discuss the prospect of getting arrested. Some said they can stomach it, others said they can’t, including the person filming who said he had a “fight to catch.”
“This is a defining moment for everybody over here who has been coming to these rallies,” one of the protesters said. “Your kids are going to remember this.”
“We are rebels,” he added. “We must remember the fact that we are rebels.”
Toward the end of the video, police officers began to arrest members of the group.
“I decided to stay, have some cheesecake and now I’m being arrested by the NYPD,” one of the protesters said as he was being led out of the restaurant in handcuffs.
