‘The people have rights! Open the door, I’m thirsty!’ Hundreds rally for defiant Staten Island bar shut down after violating coronavirus rules
Hundreds of protesters Wednesday night jammed shoulder-to-shoulder — with nearly half ignoring face mask guidelines — outside a popular Staten Island bar that got shut down for defying the state’s coronavirus rules.
About 400 people gathered in front of Mac’s Public House in Grant City a day after New York City Sheriff’s Office shut down the Lincoln Ave. watering hole and arrested one of its owners after an undercover sting found 14 people eating and drinking inside.
Cries of “Sheriffs go home,” “USA! USA!” and “F--- Cuomo!” reverberated through the cold air, as elected officials and other speakers addressed the crowd.
The pub is located in an “orange zone,” meaning it’s currently allowed to serve take-out only.
“What I saw last night, we see today, is not American,” argued state GOP Sen. Andrew Lanza, who was nearly arrested earlier in the day after trying to walk past sheriffs and enter the bar.
“We watch people loot our businesses,” he said. “But when the government loots his business, the owner is arrested.”
Lanza also questioned why businesses a few blocks away that weren’t in an “orange zone” were allowed to remain open.
“On one side of the street of this street, I can get a haircut, on another side I can’t,” he shouted to the crowd. “Tell us why every other day you change the school policies. Tell us what science justifies that.”
Bar owner Daniel Presti was taken away in handcuffs Monday, charged with obstruction of government administration. He was given a desk appearance ticket to appear in court at a later date. A bartender, a cook, and the bar’s lawyer were also charged.
The bar has become a cause celebre in the largely conservative borough, after its owners declared it an “Autonomous Zone” on Nov. 20. “We refuse to abide by any rules and regulations put forward by the Mayor of NYC and the Governor of NY State,” the bar posted on its Facebook page.
Since then, the State Liquor Authority yanked the bar’s liquor license, but the pub defiantly stayed open.
The protesters Wednesday shouted slogans decrying the closing as “communism,” and yelled several pro-Trump chants.
“‘The people have rights! Open the door, I’m thirsty!’ one protester yelled.
One demonstrator, a software engineer who would only gave his first name, Felix, pointed to the George Floyd protests across the country earlier this year.
“It’s mostly about hypocrisy. All the protests — the stuff with BLM (Black Lives Matter) and the police is okay, but then all these small businesses need to close? It’s hypocritical,” he said.
In New York City, hundreds were arrested nightly during the George Floyd protests in May and June, and several police officers were caught on video using force and pepper spray on demonstrators without provocation.
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