PEORIA, Ill. – Alwans and Sons Meat Company in Peoria is responding to claims on social media that they intentionally turned on their sprinklers Saturday afternoon where some of the ‘No Kings’ protesters were standing on the sidewalk.
Brian Alwan tells WMBD’s “Greg and Dan” that the sprinklers going off had nothing to do with the protest nearby.
“Yeah, the irrigation system did go off, because it was set to go off well before this rally was ever planned. And, once it was brought to our attention that the sprinklers were going off, it was shut down,” Alwan says.
Peoria’s ‘No Kings’ protest was one of thousands planned on Saturday nationwide criticizing the policies of the Trump administration.
Alwan also clarified that people seen on top of the Alwans and Sons building Saturday afternoon were not hired guards, but store employees that were getting a bird’s eye view of the estimated 5,000 protesters on War Memorial Drive.
Alwans and Sons on Monday posted a letter to the community on Facebook.
The full letter is attached 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
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