A group of demonstrators on Thursday hung blow dyers and curlers on a tree outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) San Francisco residence after the top congressional Democrat was caught violating coronavirus lockdown restrictions in her home city to get her hair done without a mask.
The demonstrators, who appeared to all be women, branded themselves as “angry salon customers” who want to get their hair done.
Another video shows the women forming a hand-holding circle around the tree with hair appliances. Next, the women can be seen draping an American flag over a part of the tree, which they reportedly named the “Freedom Tree.”
Pelosi is facing fierce backlash after Fox News Channel aired surveillance footage from the salon that showed her walking through the salon with her hair wet and with a mask around her neck rather than on her face. In the clip, a masked stylist follows her.
Critics, including President Donald Trump, called her a hypocrite and asked why she did not know the coronavirus-related rules in her home city.
Erica Kious, owner of ESalon SF in the city’s upscale Cow Hollow district, told Fox News that she rents chairs to stylists, and one of them informed her in advance that Pelosi wanted a wash and blow dry. California guidelines on salons vary by county, but stringent San Francisco officials have not yet permitted indoor salons to open.
Kious said she considered Pelosi getting her hair done “a slap in the face” to struggling business owners.
On Monday, Pelosi called the visit a “set-up” and demanded the salon owner issue an apology.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times, and that when they said … we’re able to accommodate people one person at a time, and that we can set up that time, I trusted that,” Pelosi said. “As it turns out, it was a set-up.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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