"It's for the kids": Cafe owner and daughter arrested and removed by police
Mother and daughter cafe owners have been dragged out of their own restaurant in handcuffs for failing to comply with Western Australia's Covid vaccination rules.
Topolinis Caffe co-owner Jodie Jardine, 51 and her daughter, 22, were arrested in their family-run Italian restaurant after a dozen police officers descended on the property.
They were charged under the Emergency Management Act for allegedly working despite not being vaccinated.
Under Western Australia's Covid jab mandate that was introduced on January 31st, all hospitality workers in the state must be double dosed or face harsh fines and even jail time.
Ms Jardine claimed that by not being vaccinated while on the job, she’s “standing up for the future of our children”.
After a tense stand-off between the cafe owners and police, the unvaxxed duo were eventually led outside by officers and taken away.
Footage from independent media shows that, later in that night, the mother and daughter were dropped at the restaurant to the applause of an awaiting crowd.
“It’s a mother and daughter and we were in the cell,” Ms Jardine said.
“We’re going to have to tell my grandchild … we were arrested for her or him because we’re standing up for our children and my grandchildren, that’s what I am doing. I am standing up for the future of our children and if we don’t, we’re not going to have a future."
“[My daughter] was braver than me, but you know, it’s for the kids, we’re doing it for the kids, it’s always been about the kids.
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen with the restaurant and my staff, my 20 staff that I have rely on me for their pay, I don’t know I am going to have to get a lawyer and see what our next step is.”
Police allege they had they had attended the restaurant earlier in the day to warn about staying open with unvaccinated staff.
Premier Mark McGowan made no apologies for the tactics of police saying, “Well that’s the law and people need to comply with it.”
Ms Jardine’s husband Phil told The West Australian unvaccinated West Australians are “being segregated like the Jews in Germany”.
The maximum penalty for breaching the Emergency Management Act is 12 months behind bars and a fine of $50,000, with the penally being up to $250,000 for corporations.
Image credits: Youtube