LONDON, ONT. -- London police services were stationed outside White Oaks Mall Monday afternoon in anticipation of a rumoured anti-mask rally scheduled at the facility.
Jeff Wilson, manager of White Oaks Mall says that five security guards were monitoring the entrances with the help of one person from the Middlesex-London Health Unit.
The anti-mask protest was first made public when it was posted on Facebook by a user. It was later cross posted on platforms like Reddit where it gained more attention.
The post was asking people to meet at White Oaks Mall at 1 p.m to go shopping “mask-less," but it came and went and it seems participants were a no-show.
But at around 1:20 p.m, one woman inside the mall was confronted by security and the health unit for not wearing a mask.
She was escorted off the premises.
The woman did not reveal her name but told CTV News that she had a medical exemption for not wearing a face covering.
London Ont. police outside of White Oaks Mall on Dec. 7, 2020. (Jordyn Read/CTV London)
Wilson said to CTV News off camera that the White Oaks Mall is a private business that can make its own rules surrounding mask use.
He says that everyone has to wear a mask inside the facility, and those who have difficulty with a mask will be provided with a face shield courtesy of the mall.
Wilson says the mall used to allow medical exemptions at the beginning of the pandemic, but staff found some customers were using it as an excuse or loophole to not wear a mask indoors.
He adds that customers were confronting the individuals without masks and he was afraid altercations would arise.
The woman spoke to police officers outside the facility for nearly an hour.
She did not receive any tickets from bylaw officers and she left the premises.
