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Police called to help Broadway’s Nacho Borracho and Neon Taco boot Patriot Prayer

Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson argues with Nacho Borracho security, right, in a 15-minute “Trump Supporter was illegally kicked out of Seattle Bar” video the group posted over the weekend

Police were called to Capitol Hill’s Nacho Borracho bar Friday night after a group told to leave because of their involvement with a far-right group refused to exit the Broadway bar and caused a more than 15-minute disturbance at the establishment.

Officers arrived on the 200 block of Broadway E just after 11 PM Friday after a report of five people involved with Patriot Prayer inside the business harassing staff and customers. The group was heckling people inside the bar, “trying to debate about tolerance,” and being disruptive, according to the SPD report on the incident.

The security guard who called police informed officers that ownership does not allow hate groups in the bar.

The incident reportedly involved pushing and shoving as security attempted to remove the group. There were no weapons reported to be involved and no injuries were reported.

One group member told police he attempted to hold onto a railing inside the bar as security pushed him out after he refused to leave. Police gave the group a “trespass admonishment” and the 35-year-old assured police he wouldn’t return to the bar.

Patriot Prayer held a small rally Friday at the University of Washington. The group is known for its support of the Trump administration and holding far-right rallies and actions in liberal and progressive settings like universities and neighborhoods like Capitol Hill.

A backlash review posted over the weekend

Supporters of Nacho Borracho, opened by Rachel Marshall and Kate Opatz in 2014, and its sibling Neon Taco operated by Monica Dimas, have taken to social media to call for support for the businesses after the weekend dust-up to combat reported retaliatory efforts to leave bad reviews for the bar and its taco window.

Dimas tells CHS her employees have been prepared for dealing with these kinds of situations and have been told to try to avoid engaging with groups like Patriot Prayer and to call police “if they mess with the bar employees again.”

 

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15 Comments
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dftl
dftl
6 years ago

Whether they are Belligerent Loitering Morons (BLM) or Pontificating Prayers, disruptive advocacy groups need to stay outside of private businesses. The nearby public sidewalk works just fine.

Trotsky
Trotsky
6 years ago
Reply to  dftl

The bar owner should also be told that asking someone to leave due to political beliefs is illegal in Seattle. I’m assuming he was asking them to leave because they were being disruptive. Then again…this is Seattle….protection is only granted to those we agree with.

Tom
Tom
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

I wasn’t there, but it sounds to me like this praying patriot was asked to leave for harassing the bar’s staff and patrons.

I’ll be having a pineapple marg and a taco there soon.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

If they aren’t being disruptive and harassing people, you wouldn’t know anything about their political beliefs, would you? I’m about 101% sure I’ve never tried to order a taco or a drink anywhere, and first been asked what my party affiliation is.

Just Askin'
Just Askin'
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

What is your basis for saying that expulsion from a business due to political belief is illegal in Seattle?

TB
TB
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

Do they have a “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone” sign posted?

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

Having a sign stating that might make a bar or restaurant feel better, but it doesn’t give them the right to refuse service based on anything protected by the State public accommodation law, nor if the City of Seattle had some additional protected classes. The question Just Askin’ is getting at is, “is political party or beliefs a protected class in WA, or Seattle?” I don’t know if it’s protected by WA or Seattle law, but it isn’t protected based on Federal law. It’s been tested in court:
https://www.eater.com/2018/4/26/17286952/maga-hats-bars-discrimination

Raven
Raven
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

Is it? Cite your sources.

Is it just in Seattle? So it’s a municipal code? Here’s a link – go ahead and find it.

https://www.seattle.gov/cityclerk/legislation-and-research/seattle-municipal-code-and-city-charter

I’ll save you some time. It’s not there and you have no idea what you are talking about. Political beliefs are specifically not a protected class, even under the more expanded WA state constitution.

Cool story bro.

Marigold
Marigold
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

Apparently “political ideology” IS protected in Seattle. Though I think there are still plenty of ways to justify refusing service to a hate group like this. https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT14HURI_CH14.06UNPUACPR&showChanges=true

Donna Webb
Donna Webb
6 years ago

Thank you Nacho Borracho for looking out for your patrons. We live in an eclectic and inclusive neighborhood where hatred and racism is not tolerated !!!

edgar
edgar
6 years ago

Were they wearing their t-shirts that read “Pinochet did nothing wrong—Make communists afraid of rotary aircraft again—physical removal since 1973”, with a picture of people falling from a helicopter? For those of you too young to remember, Pinochet was the fascist dictator of Chile who seized power in a CIA-backed coup in 1973. It involved the murder or suicide of the democratically elected President Allende. Like the Argentine junta, Pinochet’s henchmen used to kill political enemies by taking them up in aircraft and tossing them out over the ocean.

From Wikipedia: “According to a government commission report that included testimony from more than 30,000 people, Pinochet’s government killed at least 3,197 people and tortured about 29,000. Two-thirds of the cases listed in the report happened in 1973.”

“According to Peter Kornbluh in The Pinochet File, “routine sadism was taken to extremes” in the prison camps. The rape of women was common, including sexual torture such as the insertion of rats into genitals and “unnatural acts involving dogs.” Detainees were forcibly immersed in vats of urine and excrement, and were occasionally forced to ingest it.[155][156] Beatings with gun butts, fists and chains were routine; one technique known as “the telephone” involved the torturer slamming “his open hands hard and rhythmically against the ears of the victim,” leaving the person deaf. At Villa Grimaldi, prisoners were dragged into the parking lot and had the bones in their legs crushed as they were run over with trucks. Some died from torture; prisoners were beaten with chains and left to die from internal injuries.[155] Following abuse and execution, corpses were interred in secret graves, dropped into rivers or the ocean, or just dumped on urban streets in the night. The body of the renowned Chilean singer, theatre director and academic Víctor Jara was found in a dirty canal “with his hands and face extremely disfigured” and with “forty-four bullet holes.”[157]

The practice of murdering political opponents via “death flights”, employed by the juntas of Argentina and Chile, has been the subject of numerous alt-right internet memes, with the suggestion that political enemies be given “free helicopter rides.”[158] In 2001, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos informed the nation that during Pinochet’s reign, 120 bodies had been tossed from helicopters into “the ocean, the lakes and the rivers of Chile”.[159]

And yet, “Pinochet did nothing wrong.”

Matt
Matt
6 years ago

I was there. They were being disruptive, messing with people, and baiting the patrons into verbal conflict. The staff at Borracho handled it great. This group of far right trolls is made up of morons that have nothing better to do on a Friday night than try to stir up shit. Glad they got sent home.

Trotsky
Trotsky
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt

I figured it was due to them being disruptive. Then again…this plays out all over the neighborhood almost every night. People act like assholes….then get thrown out of bars. In this instance it was a special brand of assholes.

To answer the questions from above, if we like it or not, just due to political affiliation, a business owner can not toss someone. Now….they can come up with other reasons and succeed in throwing them out. But they have to be careful. City law adds numerous classes of people that are members of a ‘protected class’. Here is the list

Homelessness
Marital Status
Age
Parental Status
Gender Identity
Political Ideology

Now. Before the Seattle outrage begins I am just stating what is fact. The ‘refuse service to anyone’ sign only goes so far (although it’s not hard to find a reason to get someone out if you want). All I am saying is that businesses in Seattle have to be careful.

Trotsky
Trotsky
6 years ago
Reply to  Trotsky

Great example would be

This is illegal:

“Sorry, we don’t serve homosexuals in this bar”

This is also illegal:

*Guy walks into bar with MAGA hat on*

“We don’t serve right wingers in here, get out”

CapHillNative
CapHillNative
6 years ago

Everyone knows what a TROLL looks like when the see one.

Joey Gibson and gang of klingons are a perfect example on this.

Barracho is a fun and welcoming place. But if your’e coming to troll, GTFO ya Jabroni.

We don’t come to crap town, don’t come to mine.