Anti-mask protesters converge on Target in viral video: 'We're not gonna take it!'

 

A throng of anti-mask protesters converged on a Florida Target earlier this week encouraging shoppers to remove their masks.

Video footage of the incident went viral on social media shortly thereafter.

What are the details?

While walking down the aisles of the Fort Lauderdale Target, the group shouted, "Take your masks off!" and "Yeah! Take it off!"

At least one member of the group held up his cellphone, which blared Twisted Sister's, "We're Not Gonna Take It."

Another member can be seen wearing what appears to be a red Trump campaign hat.

At one point during the video, one of the women in the group can be seen gesturing at a group of children who aren't wearing masks, yelling, "Look at these kids."

"Let them be an example!" she can be heard yelling.

One person not in the group can be heard off-camera, saying, "f***ing idiots."

According to WSVN-TV, the group kicked off their march in the parking lot of the store.

The station reported that a male protester shouted, "Who here is sick and tired of having to wear one of these things every time you go into a store? Now, here is the bottom line: if someone wants to wear a mask going to a grocery store, then let them wear a mask, but how is it that if their mask is working that I have to wear one, too?"

In a statement to the station, a Target representative said, "Target requires guests to wear masks whenever they're shopping in our stores. … We're aware of the group of guests who came into the store last night, and we asked them to leave after they removed their masks and became disruptive and rude to shoppers."

(Content warning: rough language)

'These selfish a**holes'

Twisted Sister's frontman, Dee Snider, shared the video on his Twitter page, writing, "No...these selfish a**holes do not have my permission or blessing to use my song for their moronic cause. #cutthes**t."

On Wednesday, Dr. Robert Redfield, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that face masks are even more likely to protect the public from COVID-19 when compared with a vaccine.

“Face masks, these face masks, are the most important, powerful public health tool we have, and I will continue to appeal for all Americans, all individuals in our country, to embrace these face coverings," Redfield said during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Appropriations. “I've said that if we did it for six, eight, 10, 12 weeks, we'd bring this pandemic under control. We have clear scientific evidence they work, and they are our best defense."

At the time of this reporting, reports say the state of Florida has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita with more than 35,000 cases per 1,000,000 people.