Defending Utah Organizing Flash Mobs to Converge on Utah Grocery Retailers
Many of you may have seen in the media over the weekend that a group calling itself "
Defending Utah" is organizing flash mobs to converge on grocery retailers in Utah. These flash mobs are being organized to protests government mandatory mask health orders. These demonstrations have been peaceful, to this point, and typically a group of individuals not wearing face coverings will all show up at a retailer at a pre-arranged time. They will simply walk through the store and have not been damaging stores or products.
The organization publishes on its
Facebook page the general area they will be targeting several days in advance of the demonstration. They will then publish the specific location for people to show up to immediately prior to the demonstration. To this point they have organizing their demonstrations on Thursdays.
We recommend members monitor the Facebook page to see if the group will be in your area or at your store. We also encourage members to develop a plan in advance so that retailers are not trying to figure out a plan on the fly. As a reminder there is a mandatory face covering health order in Salt Lake, Summit and Grand counties. Also keep in mind that law enforcement will likely not respond unless the group is getting abusive with customers or staff or they are damaging property.
Each retailer can choose how they want to respond to these demonstrators and possible responses could include (but not be limited to):
- Do nothing (provided it remains peaceful) and let the demonstration run its course;
- If you are operating in a county that has a mandatory face covering health order, remind demonstrators of the county order and encourage them to either put on a face covering or leave the store; or
- Refuse service to individuals who are not wearing a face covering.
We encourage our members not to be combative with these individuals or try to forcibly remove them from the premise as escalation is likely to reflect more poorly on the retailer than the demonstrator. If your store is visited by one of these flash mobs please send an
email to the association president,
Dave Davis with any pertinent details so he can monitor the frequency and severity of these demonstrations.
Members who have questions or concerns can also contact a member of the association staff. Thank you for all you are doing to keep your communities supplied with essential food and cleaning supplies.
