Adamson Barbecue owner Adam Skelly has received an invoice from the City of Toronto amounting to $187,030.56 for the lockdown protests held at his restaurant last year.
“This is the invoice Toronto sent me for the police they hired to keep everyone safe from my brisket,” Skelly said after revealing the bill on Instagram.
The invoice came from the Toronto Board of Health. Most of the amount, totaling $165,188.73, was from Toronto Police Services.
In November, Skelly opened Adamson Barbecue in protest of Ontario’s lockdown of businesses. Adamson Barbecue served customers for three days, each time facing police efforts to stop them.
Toronto Police reportedly paid a locksmith to change the locks on the building to prevent staff and customers from entering. Skelly was eventually arrested.
Witnesses estimated that around 20 police officers were on site before Adamson opened for the day. Around the time of Skelly’s arrest, a contingent of police on horseback moved into the area as police took aggressive action to disperse the protest.
Skelly recently announced that he is filing a constitution challenge with the Ontario Superior Court seeking permission to reopen.
“It’s between me and my company and Her Majesty the Queen in right of Ontario,” he said.
“This is challenging the constitutionality of the entire emergency order that’s been deployed at a provincial level.”
A GoFundMe page for Adamson’s legal costs raised a total of $337,667 last year.
