Nellie’s had been closed for the past month after a private security guard dragged a Black woman down the steps, sparking a boycott.

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A month after a viral video showed a security guard at Nellie’s Sports Bar dragging a Black woman down a flight of stairs, sparking weeks of protests and an ongoing case with the D.C. Attorney General’s office, the bar reopened this week — only to be met with a sea of around 50 demonstrators.

Makiah Green, a co-conductor with Harriet’s Dreams, a Black-led abolitionist group, says that neighbors noticed patrons entering the bar on Tuesday night and began sharing the information on social media with the hashtag #BoycottNellies. Several activist organizations and mutual aid groups have been hosting protests and block parties outside of the popular gay bar since the night of June 13, when a private security guard dragged Keisha Young, a 22-year-old student, down the stairs head-first.

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Green says the hashtag spurred a “rapid response” from demonstrators, who started congregating outside of the bar around 8 p.m. on Tuesday night. WUSA9 posted video of protesters forming a human chain to block the entrance.

By the time Green arrived around 9 p.m., they say the crowd had been successfully deterring people from entering the bar. By 10 p.m., Green says the establishment had emptied, with only a few workers left trickling out. Other posts on social media also show a dark, empty bar and a chanting crowd outside.

“[Patrons] and the new security stated they had no idea what had been going on beforehand, they had not been communicated with [about] what happened there and about the community boycott,” Green says. (Nellie’s ended its contract with the private security company in the days after the incident).

A phone call to Nellie’s went unanswered Wednesday morning. Nellie’s owner Doug Schantz abruptly ended another call after a DCist reporter introduced herself as a journalist. A Nellie’s manager told WUSA9 that the bar had opened Monday for the first time since the assault on June 13, and opened again on Tuesday. That’s when Green says neighbors noticed activity at the bar and made their call to action.

For three consecutive weekends after the incident, crowds gathered outside calling for justice for Young. (Demonstrators took a break last weekend, conducting a virtual town hall to discuss future demonstrations and hear from others who say they have been harmed at Nellie’s).

Following an investigation into the assault by the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration — which alleged that Nellie’s had violated D.C. law by allowing illegal or disorderly conduct to take place on their licensed premises — the case was sent to D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine’s desk earlier this month. A spokesperson for Racine’s office told DCist in an emailed statement on Wednesday that the office is still reviewing the case. If Racine decides to proceed with the case, the bar could face fines or a potential loss of its liquor license.

According to Green, demonstrators don’t plan to stop boycotting the bar until their demands are met. Over the past month, advocates have been calling for a public apology from Nellie’s to Young – something they say still hasn’t happened. Regardless of whatever repercussions the bar could face from the city, activists also want to see Nellie’s ownership transfer to a Black queer person, and for more of D.C.’s gay bars to host listening sessions with Black LGBTQ+ community members who say they have felt unsafe in the city’s queer nightlife spaces.

“People need to raise their voices about things that are not safe for them” Green says. “It’s not just outsiders [protesting], it’s people who have gone to Nellie’s, people who go to Nellie’s, people who live near Nellie’s who are calling this campaign out.”

Green doesn’t know if Nellie’s will attempt to reopen again Wednesday, but says they expect the community come out in response again. Harriet’s Dreams has a fourth block party planned outside of Nellie’s this Friday to celebrate Assata Shakur’s birthday, “in the spirit of freedom and care of one another.”

“We don’t plan to stop,” Green says.

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