The protests come after the NAACP, March for Our Lives and the Georgia Alliance for Social Justice urged people to participate in sit-ins and protests across the country after the incident came to light.
One Waffle House in Brookhaven saw around a dozen people holding a sit-in Sunday afternoon. At another location in Peachtree, protesters sat for several hours in the restaurant and only ordered soft drinks, according to 11alive.com. A peaceful protest also took place at the Waffle House headquarters in Norcross, Georgia, Monday morning.
— Geechie NDaBuilding (@Geechie26) April 22, 2018
On April 26, Shaun King, an American writer and civil rights activist, urged people to boycott the restaurant chain on Facebook.
"Don't you dare eat here again," King wrote in his Thursday post.
"People are boycotting a day next week. I'm boycotting period. We make that damn company. They clearly don't value us as customers. And we must stop going where we aren't valued. Period."
A Facebook event called National Waffle House Boycott (Meet at the Headquarters) calls for a nationwide boycott of Waffle Houses on May 4. The event is organized by Rally for Black Lives and Alliances for Black Lives.
A description of the Facebook event calls on people to "Join us at the Waffle House headquarters in Norcross, GA, where we will issue our demands and hold a press conference. We will return to the Waffle House headquarters to rally/protest. If you cannot join us, please protest and/or boycott at your local Waffle House." It also offers contact information and says it wants charges against the woman arrested at the Alabama store dropped.
Alabama's Saraland Police Department announced April 22 that it was investigating the arrest of Chikesia Clemon, whose chest was exposed when three white police officers flung her to the tiled floor of a local Waffle House. The arrest was filmed by Clemon's friend, Canita Adams, and subsequently shared online.
"You're not going to grab on me like that, no," Clemons tells an officer is who holding her arm. Clemons and Adams are heard explaining that they were doing nothing more than asking for the diner's corporate number in order to file a complaint about being charged for plastic cutlery, according to AL.com.
Seconds later, the video cuts to the officer pushing Clemons to the ground as another officer grabs her legs. Trying to keep her chest covered, the struggle between Clemons and law enforcement continues as they try to put her arm behind her back.
Clemons was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. She is currently out on bail after her mother, Chiquitta Clemons-Howard, posted her $1,000 bond.
The following day, April 23, Waffle House tweeted a statement about the Saraland incident.
"We are still obtaining and reviewing information. However, the information we have received at this point differs significantly from what has reportedly been attributed to Ms. Clemons. After reviewing our security video of the incident and eye witness accounts, police intervention was appropriate. The Saraland Police Department is conducting its own investigation. We take this matter very seriously and think it is important for all those involved or interested in the matter to exercise caution until the facts are developed."
