A Toronto barbecue restaurant is going viral on social media for opening its doors for indoor dining, which defies lockdown orders in Ontario.
“Barbecue is essential,” one man is heard saying in a video of people outside of Adamson BBQ in Etobicoke on Tuesday.
“BBQ IS ESSENTIAL” pic.twitter.com/npxZ0Kjrbl
— Jennifer Pagliaro (@jpags) November 24, 2020
The restaurant’s owner, Adam Skelly, announced on Instagram Monday that his establishment would open, despite provincial lockdowns due to the coronavirus.
“For those of you have eyes to see why I’m doing this, thank you guys so much,” he said. “Thank you for letting me know that have people in our corner.”
“This is a risky move, and you guys gave me the gas to do this.”
Toronto Star reporter Jennifer Pagliaro provided updates of the situation, showing dozens of people congregated outside, many of whom were not wearing masks.
“This person driving an official City of Toronto truck just honked and fist bumped the pro-Adamson folks here,” she wrote, accompanied by a photo.
This person driving an official City of Toronto truck just honked and fist bumped the pro-Adamson folks here pic.twitter.com/jzI39mR55u
— Jennifer Pagliaro (@jpags) November 24, 2020
Police soon arrived at the scene and eventually shut the restaurant down.
“Investigations require the gathering of all the facts before enforcement action can be taken,” the city said in a press release. “The City has now taken enforcement action, and the restaurant is closed.”
Initially, police said they could not shut down the restaurant because they couldn’t remove all of the patrons.
“By the sheer number of people that are here right now, we don’t have the ability to go and physically remove everyone at this point and it would be unsafe to do so,” Toronto police inspector Tim Crone said.
“We understand the level of frustration (about another lockdown), however, the overriding consideration always has to be public safety.”
The situation, which trended on Twitter Tuesday, also grabbed the attention of local politicians, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who was asked about the restaurant at a press conference.
“I’m not going to get up here and start pounding a small-business owner when the guy’s holding on by his fingernails,” Ford said. “I differentiate between someone at home being reckless and having 100 people over and partying or renting a public storage place, that’s reckless.”
“I don’t condone that he’s opening up, but I feel terrible. My heart breaks for these guys.”
