Restaurant shutdown protesters in Los Angeles surrounded County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl's house on Saturday, holding signs and chanting "let us work!"
Los Angeles residents expressed outrage after Kuehl was seen eating outdoors hours after voting to ban outdoor dining throughout the county. A large group of restaurant workers and anti-lockdown protesters gathered outside Kuehl's home demanding to be allowed back to work, as stimulus negotiations continue to stall amid the worsening pandemic.
In a video shared to Twitter, one protester could be heard yelling: "I have no choice! We, in the restaurant industry, are losing everything!"
Restaraunt shutdown protesters currently outside the home of L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl chanting “Let us work!” https://t.co/PFsfeq6vPu
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 5, 2020
"We have bartenders with babies and children and they can't pay their rent! They can't eat and it's because of you, Sheila Kuehl, as you laugh and dine and eat out!" the protester added.
"Maybe we should hand over your paycheck to these businesses that have been shut down!" another person could be heard saying.
The crowd then began to uniformly chant "let us work!" in the direction of Kuehl's house.
Newsweek reached out to Kuehl's representatives for comment.
On November 24, Kuehl voted to ban all in-person dining at restaurants in Los Angeles County for the next three weeks amid rising coronavirus cases in the region.
"This is a serious health emergency and we must take it seriously," she said at the meeting as the measure passed in a 3-2 vote. "The servers are not protected from us, and they're not protected from their other tables that they're serving at that particular time, plus all the hours in which they're working."
That night, Kuehl was seen eating out at an Italian restaurant near her Santa Monica home. Although the ban wasn't set to take effect until the next evening, Kuehl has faced significant backlash among residents and restaurant business for her decision to eat out hours after her vote.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who voted in opposition to the ban, told FOX 11: "We have to remember that we who are in public office are held to a very high standard, as we should be."
Kuehl's office defended her decision to dine out on Tuesday.
"Kuehl has eaten at Il Forno Trattoria virtually every night for many years, and on the last night that it was permitted by the county health orders, she dined there al fresco taking appropriate precautions as recommended by the Department of Public Health," the county supervisor's spokesperson said in a statement.
In an interview with Spectrum News 1 SoCal, Kuehl said she went to the restaurant to personally inform the owners of the upcoming ban.
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