A man was handcuffed by police and removed a popular Las Vegas casino for not wearing a mask, at a time when several protests have been reported in the city after wearing of a mask in public was made mandatory by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak in June.
In a video obtained by the Sun US, the man could be seen taken out of 4 Queens casino for entering the place without a face covering. He was handcuffed by at least four security guards and was later handed over to the police for breaking the mandate of wearing a mask in the public. The incident reportedly happened on Saturday night.
The man, who remains unidentified, is heard screaming. While the security guards can be seen wearing masks, the onlookers had their masks pulled down to their chins.
A similar incident was recorded in July when a woman was told to leave a casino in the city for refusing to wear a mask. The woman, who recorded the video, said the casino authorities told him to leave the place for not complying with their mask rule.
As of Monday, Nevada's total confirmed coronavirus cases stood at 51,199. So far, 847 people have died to the highly infectious disease. The number of Covid-19 positive patients is expected to be much higher as several people remain untested.
Following the incident, people took to Twitter to applaud the guards for removing the man.
"If you don't want to wear a mask...then go somewhere where you don't have to. Everyone knows the deal...casinos, flying, retail. I have no tolerance for these people because they KNOW this is going to happen. If they don't, then the IQ is in single digits," one Twitter user wrote.
"So unreasonable that those employees had to get that close to a childish, grown "adult" making a fuss and intentionally endangering everyone else," another user said in a tweet.
However, some Twitter users expressed their displeasure over the incident saying it was not right for the casino management to remove the man in handcuffs. Some also claimed to have seen several people at Las Vegas casinos without wearing masks.
Since Gov. Sisolak made wearing of masks compulsory, people have taken to the roads to protest against the decision. Last Wednesday, about 100 protesters gathered at a rally organized by No Mask Nevada – a political action committee – to fight the mandate. The protesters said their rights were taken away by the government by making people wear masks due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
"I know there are lots of people who are very sick and should wear masks, but we should be able to make that choice for ourselves," Norma Scurlock, a protester at the rally, told Las Vegas Review-Journal. "We're not children. ... I'm out here because I want people to realize that our rights are being taken away."
