San Francisco restaurant bans armed officers, police union responds

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A San Francisco restaurant is feuding with police on social media after the business implemented a policy that bans armed officers from entering.

Reem's California announced the policy in an Instagram post on Friday, saying the reason is to have a "deep commitment to uplifting social and racial justice in our communities."

"In a time of increased gun violence -- particularly impacting people of color, youth, and queer people -- we believe that maintaining a strict policy of prohibiting guns in our restaurant keeps us safer," Reem's wrote.

The San Francisco Police Officer's Association, a union that represents officers, called out the restaurant on X, formerly known as Twitter. On Thursday, they said one of their officers was denied service last weekend because he was in uniform.

Reem's said they don't refuse service to police officers in general – it's only when they are in uniform and armed.

"We are not asking Reem’s or any business with a bigoted policy to serve our officers," SFPOA said. "We’re asking them to own their discriminatory policy & and put up a sign so we know not to spend money in your establishment—on or off duty. We took the liberty of designing one for them."

The SFPOA posted the design on X.

As of Friday, Reem's Mission District location was "temporarily closed," according to the restaurant's website. There was no reopening date announced.

The police union has not tweeted anything about Reem's since Thursday afternoon. Reem's last posted about the matter on Friday afternoon.