A Wisconsin restaurant was vandalized for merely scheduling an event for a congressional Republican candidate.
The owners of Vincent’s Pizzeria & Restaurant in Monroe issued a statement about the incident on Wednesday on their official Facebook page.
“Last night our restaurant was vandalized. We would like the community to know this act of vandalism was not committed by a disgruntled employee but because we took a reservation,” read the post. “A reservation which we knew nothing about other than it was a group of people who wanted to order food from our business.”
The vandalism was targeted against Republican Charity Barry, despite the restaurant not endorsing her campaign.
“Vince’s does not affiliate with a political party as we believe politics should be kept out of business. We welcome all to our restaurant and are thankful for all who choose to dine with us,” the post read.
Barry posted photographs of the vandalism.
“This isn’t polticial discourse. This is a disgusting display of cowardice intended to intimidate a political candidate into retreat,” tweeted Barry.
“The problem with their plan is, I will not back down. I will not retreat, and I WILL NOT BE BULLIED INTO SUBMISSION,” she added.
The vandalism included many profanities and said, “F*** Charity Barry,” as well as “F*** this s***.” They also spray-painted “ACAB” on a nearby store, an acronym meaning “all cops are bast**ds” that is often used by Black Lives Matter activists.
Barry called for her Democrat opponent to condemn the vandalism, and he did.
“No ‘progressive’ does our cause any good with actions like this or the similar attempted Molotov cocktail at an anti-gay organization’s office in Madison. Whoever did this should be punished under the law,” tweeted Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.).
The vandalism did not stop the event, but Barry did move its location to an undisclosed location.