'They were directly in harm's way': Victoria businesses report threats amid COVID-19 protest

It’s not often a barista fears for their safety while they whip up a latte, but staff at two Victoria coffee shops say that was the situation on Saturday.

As thousands of anti-mask and anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate protesters voiced their views on the lawn of the legislature, several businesses say they were intimidated and harassed by members of the crowd.

“They were directly in harm's way," said Rich Becker, general manager of the Steamship Grill and a Starbucks in the area, referring to his employees.

Becker says throughout the day his staff were subject to countless protesters refusing to wear masks inside.

On his day off, he drove downtown to help his management team, who he said were scared and intimidated by anti-maskers storming the small shop and refusing to leave.

"[A protester] said, 'I'm not leaving and I can get 100 other guys in here,'” Becker told CTV News.

Separating his staff from the aggressive protesters, Becker was able to get the men to leave.

He then locked the Starbucks location's doors and shut down early as he feared reprisal from the group.

The Starbucks situation was not a one-off.

Management at the Hotel Grand Pacific said their workers faced a challenging day as unmasked protesters demanded to use their washrooms.

"It was definitely a fear knowing they were here without backup,” said Discovery Coffee assistant manager Esther Kennedy.

Discovery staff too faced intimidation and threats when asking some protesters to don masks, which is a B.C. COVID-19 regulation.

"I don't think it's fair, especially when you have younger staff and older people coming in that should know better," said Kennedy. "We're all in this together."

Business owners also told CTV News they were concerned as they witnessed heavy public drinking and drug use within the crowd.

POLICING CONCERNS

Problems for Starbucks management went deeper than just threats and harassment from socalled "Freedom Convoy" supporters.

Rich Becker said he called 911, fearing violence was going to erupt in his coffee shop.

He says dispatchers asked him if anyone was being physically assaulted. When he said not yet, but feared it was near, the dispatcher hung up on him, he said.

Becker says he called back repeatedly and was told the situation was not an emergency.

“If law enforcement says we’ll only come if someone is seriously injured, now I have to wait for someone to be seriously injured? I don’t want that. My employees don’t want that,” said Becker.

Victoria police said the protest was peaceful and they received no calls for service to the area. Since Becker’s claims, officers are taking a closer look at 911 call logs.

Police are also facing criticism after an officer in a patrol car was captured on video Saturday giving the largely unmasked crowd a thumbs-up.

Victoria police Chief Del Manak said in a statement Monday that when he first saw the video, he "viewed it with concern since impartiality and neutrality are key to serving our community as police officers."

"I have since spoken to the officer, who told me that he was responding to appreciative comments from citizens about VicPD's presence in ensuring public safety at this event," Manak said.

The rally on the lawn of the B.C. legislature was coordinated by a small political organization called We Unify Canada.

CTV News has reached out to the organization for a comment on the allegations of harassment and threats from protesters, but has not received a response.

Police estimate between 4,000 and 5,000 people attended the Victoria rally.