Posted on April 1, 2015

Owner: ‘It Is a Very Dangerous Thing’ What #BlackBrunchATL Protesters Are Doing

CBS Atlanta, April 1, 2015

A café owner is feeling like he’s behind enemy lines as more than a dozen protesters have demonstrated at restaurants for the last two Sundays over police shootings involving unarmed black men.

Glen Gurenvitch, owner of Sweet Melissa’s, tells WGCL-TV that he is not against what the protesters are standing but, but just the delivery of their message during a busy time at restaurants.

“I really thought it was a very disrespectful thing,” he told WGCL. “We had nothing to do with the political issue.”

Gurenvitch has put up signs at his café asking the protesters to respect his place of business.

“We respect lives. We respect free speech. Please respect us. Please respect our guests,” the signs read.

Aurielle Marie, organizer of #BlackBrunchATL, explained to WGCL that more needs to be done about police shootings involving African-American men.

“I think the disruption matches the desperation,” Marie said.

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“I understand they want to stir emotions to get people involved and I somewhat agree with that, but again, it’s just not the right place to do it,” Gurenvitch told WGCL. “I think that it is a very dangerous thing, when you take a really busy time and escalate emotions. I think it can be a very dangerous thing.”