Anti-Maskers Stage Protest At Century City Mall: Reports

LOS ANGELES, CA — A group of people protesting against California's mask requirement on Sunday staged a demonstration at a Los Angeles grocery store and at Westfield Century City mall, according to several media and online reports.

The Los Angeles Times reports the group first appeared at a Ralphs grocery, where they walked maskless through the store. Some were seen in footage from the incident refusing the offer of a free mask and shouting at shoppers and employees.

The group then went to Westfield Century City mall, where some protestors entered a Bloomingdales store and argued with customers while others broke out in dance outside the store. One person was seen holding up a sign that read "COVID is a con-job."

Citing a Twitter user, Newsweek reported someone who appeared to be a "main disruptor" in the group was detained by authorities after a physical altercation with a shopper. The eyewitness said on Twitter that the disruptor was "later released to continue disturbing."

Journalist Emily Holshouser, who shared footage of the protest on Twitter, reported LAPD officers were present at the mall during the incident but "mostly did not intervene aside from a couple of very brief altercations," she wrote. "They told me they didn’t want to escalate things."

It's unclear if arrests were made or if other protestors were detained during the incident.

On Sunday, Los Angeles County reported another 12,488 people had tested positive for the coronavirus, and another 91 had died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. As of Sunday, 7,544 people had been hospitalized with the virus, 21 percent of whom were in intensive care.