PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The Woodford County Democratic Central Committee apologized for a post accusing a local meat shop of turning on sprinklers with “malicious intent,” during a protest.
The Facebook post has since been removed, and the group apologized, as when they posted, they thought the sprinklers at Alwan and Sons Meat Company were maliciously turned on.
“We would like to extend our sincere apologies for any inconvenience or misunderstanding caused by our earlier post,” said Ross Clymer, the group’s chairman. “At the time of posting, we were led to believe that the sprinklers had been turned on with malicious intent.
We are pleased to learn that Alwan and Sons Meat Company did not intend any harm or ill will toward attendees of the No Kings Protest on Saturday, and we truly appreciate their clarification.”
He ended the statement by saying they were pleased with the “No Kings” protest turnout.
Alwan and Sons Meat Company released a message on Facebook in response to the original allegations that circulated on social media, saying they didn’t mean to turn on sprinklers during a protest.
The post started by giving an apology for the events that transpired.
“We are writing to address and explain the situation that occurred at our store on Saturday afternoon during the rally and are currently responding to these inquiries to the best of our abilities. We want to begin by offering a sincere and unreserved apology to those affected,” the post said.
They said that the sprinklers are set on an “advanced timer,” and one of those time frames is at 1:30 p.m.
“The timing was unfortunate, and we want to clarify that this was an automatic function of the system. As soon as we were notified, we promptly turned the system off within a few minutes. We did not anticipate the rally would extend as far as our store,” the post said.
They added that social media posts circulating about the event are “inaccurate and misleading.”
They also addressed the four people on the roof as being two employees, the owner and the owner’s close friend.
“They were observing and taking their own photos of the protest peacefully and unarmed. They were not hired security, just employees,” the post said.
It added how they are a “melting pot” of people, some of whom were there in support of the protest.
“We have concern for our own employees and customers. This is an unfortunate misunderstanding that has been fueled by social media. We truly appreciate the peaceful inquiries and the opportunity to explain this matter. We are reviewing our internal processes to ensure something like this never happens again,” it said.
They ended the post by saying they respect everyone’s right to “peacefully demonstrate.”
The full post can be seen below:
To the Community,
We are writing to address and explain the situation that occurred at our store on Saturday afternoon during the rally, and are currently responding to these inquiries to the best of our abilities. We want to begin by offering a sincere and unreserved apology to those affected.
Our sprinkler system is set on an advanced timer, and one of our zones was scheduled to activate at 1:30 PM. The timing was unfortunate, and we want to clarify that this was an automatic function of the system. As soon as we were notified, we promptly turned the system off within a few minutes. We did not anticipate the rally would extend as far as our store. Several social media posts are inaccurate and misleading.
Also, the 4 individuals on the roof were 2 employees, an owner, and a close friend of the owner. They were observing and taking their own photos of the protest, peacefully and unarmed. They were not hired security, just employees.
Within our business, we are a melting pot of people, some of whom were there in support of the protest and have received much hate. We have concern for our own employees and customers. This is an unfortunate misunderstanding that has been fueled by social media. We truly appreciate the peaceful inquiries and the opportunity to explain this matter. We are reviewing our internal processes to ensure something like this never happens again.
We want to make it unequivocally clear that we respect everyone’s right to peacefully demonstrate. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and affirm our love for our community. We are committed to moving forward together and hope to serve you in the future.
Sincerely,
The Alwan Family and Staff
Alwan and Sons Facebook post
