Chick-fil-A shows love, serves free drinks to 'Black Lives Matter' supporters protesting against their CEO's support for 'Blue Lives Matter'

Chiqui Guyjoco Friday, July 22, 2016

A Tennessee branch of Chick-fil-A showed love to supporters of Black Lives Matter who are protesting against the chicken restaurant's President Dan Cathy's support for Blue Lives Matter.

Around 100 members of the Tri-Cities Black Lives Matter movement lined up the West Market Street in front of the chicken restaurant Chick-fil-A in Johnson City, Tennessee on Saturday night, July 16 to protest against the restaurant chain's stand on counterpart Blue Lives Matter.

Police supporters (front) and counter demonstrators (rear) yell at each other as they are separated by a line of police during a "Blue Lives Matter" rally in support of the Baltimore police in front of City Hall in Baltimore, Maryland May 30, 2015. | REUTERS/Jim Bourg

"It's not that no other race matters, we are just saying we are the ones under fire right now," protester Brianne Murray told WJHL.

The local franchise's owner and operator Darrell Fowler, together with the restaurant employees, responded the next day by passing out lemonade to the protesters who stood drenched under the rain.

David Tomita, Johnson City's vice mayor, captured the scene and uploaded the photos on Facebook that garnered 1.7k likes and were shared 1,000 times in just a day.

The protesters clarified they're against the national gesture made by the chicken restaurant and not specifically targeting the restaurant in Johnson City.

"We want to raise awareness especially with the blue lives matter campaign, which was a way to silence the black lives matter movement," said protest organizer Whitney Prater. "That is one of the reasons that we chose to have it at Chick-Fil-A. We are not targeting that Chick-Fil-A specifically. The national Chick-Fil-A started that campaign."

While the Black Lives Matter movement resulted from the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of white police officers, the pro-police Blue Lives Matter movement came about from the targeted deaths of police officers in New York two years ago.

A Chick-Fil-A branch in The Woodlands, Texas posted photos online last year that showed employees and patrons wearing T-Shirts that read "Back the Blue" and "Go Blue or Go Home."

Restaurant Manager Eli Advincula told The Blaze they meant to "show our support for police" since "they are out on our streets every day."

The chicken restaurant that's well-known to close business on Sundays in observance of Christian values, also made headlines before for its conservative stand on marriage and homosexuality.