Anti-masker and anti-vaccine demonstrators disrupted Crossroads Kitchen this summer, a popular vegan restaurant. About 20 anti-vaxxers showed up randomly and started screaming at restaurant patrons and staff, claiming that masks don't work, while also decrying "vaccine passports." At one point, a transphobic anti-vaxxer, who was live-streaming, started yelling the Nazi salute "sieg heil" towards the staff and customers, over and over again. He was then confronted about the horrifically antisemitic display.
Crossroads Kitchen, in an effort to try and keep increasing COVID-19 transmissions down, was requiring customers to be vaccinated (before it was mandated). At the time, the Los Angeles Times reported that LA County had over 3,000 new COVID-19 cases per day. Today, that number has risen to over 20,000 per day.
Despite the danger, local far-right extremists are becoming more emboldened in their anti-mask and anti-vaccine efforts. Earlier in the summer, they targeted Cedars Sinai Breast Cancer Clinic over the hospital's mask requirement. The violent rally ended in brawls, and with far right extremists punching and bear macing a breast cancer patient as law enforcement idly watched. Shiva Bagheri, the racist anti-masker and Trump supporter who punched the breast cancer patient, was one of the violent demonstrators at Crossroads as well. In fact, many of the same far right extremists involved in the Cedars Sinai incident were present at Crossroads Kitchen one week later.
Just like the Cedars Sinai incident, law enforcement did not seem bothered by the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers targeting and harassing the community. LAPD was on scene but didn't do anything during the entire incident. Crossroads Kitchen said they could not comment on Saturday evening's events. However, the anti-vaxxers posted a heated argument they had with the staff at the restaurant. The staff was visibly distressed and angered by this harassment.
The far right extremists promised to return to Crossroads and disrupt their business again. The trend of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers targeting businesses and even a hospital has been increasing steadily, and it has no end in sight.