Exclusive: Vacaville restaurant owner files harassment claim against local activist
The civil complaint is the latest involving an activist group that some former participants described as polarizing and unhinged.
Photo: Protesters with the grassroots movement Voices of VV confront restaurateur Jason Diavatis during a rally near Andrews Park in April. (Image courtesy Makse Restaurant, obtained by Solano NewsNet)
A Vacaville restaurant owner has filed a civil harassment petition against a local activist who was arrested after a heated confrontation in the city’s downtown district last month.
The harassment order accused Voices of VV leader Dalauna Knox with targeting the upscale Makse Restaurant and its owner, Jason Diavatis, during a weekly rally in front of nearby Andrews Park.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Diavatis said Knox and other activists have created a general nuisance for downtown businesses since their anti-police rallies began nearly two years ago.
Diavatis, who operates several other restaurants in Solano County, took over the building that once housed the Creekside Cafe on Main Street last year. Since then, he said Knox and her activist group have attempted to cause problems for his business and others in the downtown corridor.
Things came to a head in April when the activist group began challenging employees and customers at the restaurant, Diavatis said, with Knox leading the charge by using a bullhorn to shout incendiary rhetoric at workers there.
“They were so obnoxious that they forced our staff to close the front doors, and the guests were not happy with it,” Diavatis said. “When they started aiming their bullhorn at the restaurant, I said enough is enough.”
Diavatis called the police, complaining that Knox and her fellow activists were disturbing the peace. An officer responded, and Knox was arrested.
The arrest provoked a harsh rebuke from the remaining activists on the scene, with one participant shouting death threats at Diavatis, according to surveillance video obtained by Solano NewsNet.
“I hope you die!” the unidentified activist shouted at Diavatis as she was carried away by another participant.
“That’s a terrorist threat, are you saying you want to kill me?” Diavatis asked.
“Yes! Yes!” the activist yelled back.
(Video courtesy Makse Restaurant)
Since then, Diavatis said activists have targeted him and his business primarily through the Internet by positing harassing messages on Twitter and fake reviews on Google and Yelp.
“I knew the battle was coming,” Diavatis said on Wednesday. “I knew they were going to cross over lines and pick a fight with me. I was hopeful they would not, but I was also expecting it.”
The Vacaville Police Department has not returned a request for clarification on the incident, and an email message sent to an address associated with Voices of VV went unanswered as of Wednesday afternoon.
The arrest in April adds to a growing list of problems for Knox and her group since it was formed more than two years ago.
Like other activist groups, Voices of VV gained critical momentum in the summer of 2020 after video surfaced showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a local resident who was suspected of using counterfeit money at a convenience store.
Video of Floyd’s death was widely circulated online and became a renewed rallying cry for police reform and public accountability of law enforcement officers. It also triggered a period of civil unrest, which devolved into smash-and-grab burglaries at several Solano County businesses. During one alleged burglary, a Vallejo police officer fatally shot a 22-year-old who was thought to be armed with a gun. (He was not.)
Voices of VV was one of several local groups to respond to the Floyd murder and the Vallejo shooting with a series of police reform rallies, with the activist group staging protests in front of the Vacaville Police Department near City Hall.
For weeks, hundreds of protesters showed their support for the group, with citizen journalists documenting its marches and rallies on a regular basis. As the summer progressed, fewer people started to show up.
Those who continued to attend noticed a shift in Voices of VV’s approach: The rallies became more hostile and Knox herself became more polarizing, according to two former participants who spoke with Solano NewsNet on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation from the group.
One former participant said the polarization was in part due to the presence of counter-protesters who showed up by the dozens whenever Voices of VV held a rally.
“The counter-demonstrators, they were clearly trying to instigate a fight or something,” the participant said. “The more time we spent with her, the more it became clear she was looking for a confrontation, too.”
Photo: Dalauna Knox appears at a Voices of VV rally in downtown Vacaville. (Photo courtesy Makse Restaurant, obtained by Solano NewsNet)
During a September rally, Knox was reportedly seen grabbing a pro-law enforcement flag from a counter-protester. Police arrested her, and she was later charged with robbery. The case is still pending in criminal court.
Several months later, Knox and her group were thrust into the local spotlight again a splinter group of activists went rogue and vandalized the front of the Vacaville Police Department during a Voices of VV rally. Knox has not been accused or charged in connection with that incident.
The vandalism led Vacaville police to increase their surveillance of the group. Two weeks after the vandalism, officers assigned to watch Voices of VV pulled over several vehicles associated with its activists for minor traffic infractions after the group completed a homeless outreach event, Solano NewsNet reported.
One stop drew the ire of the group, which organized an impromptu rally around the vehicle. Officers issued a dispersal order, then called in a specialized team to make arrests and confiscate cell phones. Knox was one of four people arrested that day.
The arrests spurred calls from Knox and other activists for the resignation of several law enforcement leaders in Vacaville, including John Carli, the city’s long-time police chief. Carli announced his retirement the following month.
“She wasn’t satisfied with the chief stepping down,” a former participant said. “She wants the whole police force disbanded, and that’s not something everyone agrees with, but with Dalauna, you’re either with her or you’re against her, and if she thinks you’re against her, then you become a target.”
Knox lost support within her own organization when she used the group’s Twitter account to call for a boycott against Black Zebra Productions, an independent media company that live-streams police reform rallies and other grassroots movements in Northern California.
“She was very pro-Black Zebra when they covered one of her rallies, and then they did something that she took issue with, and ever since then, she’s tried to turn people against them,” the participant said. “You can’t really work with someone who does that…she’s putting what she wants above everything else, and it makes it hard to work with her, because it’s hard to know what she wants, it changes all the time, and it is more confrontational.”
Another activist who participated in several Voices of VV rallies said the recent Voices of VV protests have made it difficult to hold local leaders to account.
“Good activists are loud and obnoxious, sure — that’s kind of the point of activism, to be so loud that you can’t be ignored,” the activist said. “But there’s a big difference between being loud and respected, and being feared because you’re a bully, and I’m not going to say which of those the group falls into, but I think it’s obvious.”
While some have shied away from the group, others have decided to confront them.
“Before I even took over the space, they were terrorizing the community,” Diavatis said. “They’ve made other businesses afraid of standing up to them, or speaking out, or signing a complaint against them.”
But Diavatis said Knox and her group’s confrontational style of activism, coupled with its incendiary rhetoric, was impacting his business and making both his customers and employees feel uncomfortable and threatened.
“If they create an issue, then I will use any legal means to address that,” Diavatis said.
The restaurateur has carried through on his threat: Last month, Diavatis filed a civil harassment petition in Solano County Superior Court against Knox after her protests against his business escalated since her arrest.
“I and my staff are greatly concerned this will lead to violence against us,” Diavatis wrote in the petition, a copy of which was reviewed by Solano NewsNet this week.
Diavatis asked a judge to order Knox and other activists to stay at least 100 yards away from his business. A few days later, a magistrate judge denied his request for a temporary restraining order, saying more evidence was needed to substantiate his claims.
A court hearing has been scheduled for May 17 where Diavatis will be able to present his evidence and Knox will be able to respond to the allegations against her.
Correction: An earlier version of this article, including one e-mailed to subscribers, referred to Mr. Diavatis’ restaurant by an incorrect name. It is Makse Restaurant, not Maske Restaurant.
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