Fresno may cite anti-mask protesters for trespassing after weekend confrontation
Anti-mask protesters who block doorways or impede shoppers from entering Fresno businesses can expect to receive citations, Mayor Jerry Dyer said Monday, two days after a demonstration shut down a store.
Protesters disrupted shoppers Saturday afternoon at the Sprouts Farmers Market in northeast Fresno and were confronted by some of the mask-wearing customers who wanted to shop without being hassled amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
At least some of the same protesters conducted a similar protest at the beginning of the month at Trader Joe’s.
Dyer said if store employees ask the protesters to leave or to protest out of the doorway, the protesters can be cited for trespassing if they don’t comply.
“Our restaurants and restaurant employees have gone through a really hard time,” he said. “I’m just asking people, can you just please abide by the mask rule in our city? If there is a business that requires a mask, would you just wear it?”
The protesters without masks are putting the health of others at risk, Dyer said. He compared the mask requirement to routine requirements for shoppers to wear shoes and a shirt.
“We do not need anymore confrontations like we had this past weekend,” Dyer said. “They’re unproductive. All they do is create a divide in our community.”
One person at the Sprouts protest was cited for trespassing, according to Dyer.
A trespassing citation is a misdemeanor. If the person cited does not leave, they could also be arrested, Dyer said.
Business owners are asked to set up an area in their parking lot that would allow protesters to demonstrate but does not block shoppers from entering a store.
Wear a mask
Dyer spoke Monday during a news conference attended by business advocates and Councilmember Mike Karbassi, who said restaurants and businesses are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic and in many cases forced to lay off workers.
Sprouts is in District 2, which Karbassi represents. He called the protests “political stunts” that don’t solve the problem.
“Stopping a business from operating and forcing employees to have to go home because you’re blocking a business from functioning, it’s not right,” Karbassi said. “You can’t say you support business when you’re willing to do that.”
Monday also saw the announcement from Gov. Gavin Newsom lifting the stay-at-home order in the San Joaquin Valley.
Lifting the order allows for outdoor dining at restaurants, but doesn’t cure all the economic ills of owners, according to Chuck Van Fleet, owner of Vino Grille & Spirits and president of the Fresno chapter of the California Restaurant Association.
Fresno County and the Valley need to bring down the transmission rate of COVID-19 before the state will allow indoor dining again. Masks will help get there, Van Fleet said.
“The way we do this is not arguing with someone when you come in about wearing a mask,” he said. “The mask is not there for you, the mask is for the protection of the employees and the other people that you’re around.”
Selfies with police
A photo made the rounds on social media showing a Fresno officer posing for photos with some of the unmasked protesters. Dyer said it’s common for police to pose for photos and interact with the public, saying the photo does not depict the officer approving of the protest.
“That can be portrayed and was portrayed as the officer supporting the people not wearing a mask,” he said. “That’s simply not true. That officer was simply taking a photograph with a fellow citizen in the community who asked to do that.”
Dyer said Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama sent a directive to all officers to avoid appearing in photos that could be perceived as political statements.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 3:02 PM.
