Cornwall Centre store manager unhappy after anti-mask rally moved into mall

A Regina anti-mask rally spread from Victoria Park to the Cornwall Centre on Saturday.

A video posted online shows protestors walking up Scarth Street to the mall, then entering without wearing masks or distancing.

As an indoor public place, masks are mandatory in any mall.

Shari Lauritzen, the store manager of La Vie en Rose in the Cornwall Centre, was there to see the group’s arrival Saturday.

She told 980 CJME the people showed up at about 4 p.m. Based on what she saw, she guesses that about 40 people were in the group.

Lauritzen said she called security, who told her the police had already been called.

According to her, the group was mostly non-confrontational at first, but began chanting and yelling once officers showed up. Then, they left the building.

The entire incident unsettled Lauritzen when it comes to both safety and business.

“It was frustrating,” she said. “We go to work every single day (and) we have to wear our masks … We do everything that we’re supposed to and we’re suffering for business …

“Here’s a Saturday afternoon and it’s not very busy in the mall and guess what happens? It’s a disruption, it’s frustrating and it’s scary to some extent. Then, they leave and the mall empties out.”

“A lot of potential customers left when all this was going on and just never bothered (to come) back again.”

She said that while she understands how fed up people are with the pandemic, it doesn’t feel fair that the protesters are living as if everything is normal.

“To see these people come into the mall and to kind of rub your nose in it, it’s like, ‘We’re just going to do whatever the heck we want to do and you all can just stand there and watch us,’ ” she said.

“Yes, it’s scary.”