Koko's Bartini in Kennewick remained open for indoor service Tuesday night after liquor control officers showed up to shut down the bar that afternoon.
Owner Dana Slovak was not there at the time, but said some customers in the bar confronted the agents and turned them away, following them as they left.
A customer, who declined to give her name, told the Herald about eight armed officers showed up.
The Washington state Liquor and Cannabis Board did not provide information about the incident to the Herald Tuesday afternoon.
Gov. Jay Inslee ordered restaurants and bars to end indoor eating and drinking from Nov. 18 to at least Dec. 14 as COVID-19 cases surge across the state. Outdoor service, takeout and delivery are still permitted.
But Slovak has kept the bar open for indoor service, saying it is a peaceful protest against state mandates that limit business.
On the bar's regular business days over the last week it has invited people to come to the bar to drink and eat, telling them to bring protest signs.
Koko's Bartini has posted photos of customer signs saying, "Bartini Lives Matter — will not comply," and "My Choice — You Stay Home."
The Washington state liquor board served a written warning to the bar on Thursday. The next steps could be a fine or an emergency suspension of its state liquor license.
Slovak said an employee called him about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to say liquor control officers were at the bar, and while he was enroute there, an officer for the state liquor board called him.
"You need to get a warrant," he said he told the officer.
Officers were gone when he arrived, and he did not answer a call from the liquor board later in the day, he told the Herald.
Slovak also said during a Pasco rally at the Franklin County Courthouse on Tuesday morning that he had worked out a new legal strategy to keep the bar open with the help of the Celski Law Firm in Kennewick.
On social media, Koko's Bartini said that a "loophole" would allow the bar to remain open, contrary to Inslee's order.
More than a dozen people used an electronic bullhorn to protest outside the Kennewick home of a liquor control officer on Sunday.
Speakers, including Joey Gibson, founder of the controversial activist group Patriot Prayer in Vancouver, Wash., called for the officer to come out and face protesters and to "stand down" from enforcing the governor's order.
Gibson's group, Patriot Prayer, has planned and promoted rallies in cities like Portland, frequently engaging in violence against their political opponents, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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