Targeting Long Island's affluent: Coalition protests at places where the rich dine and play

A group of roughly 10 demonstrators entered the Sag Harbor restaurant and, as patrons ate their meals, began yelling its message about wealth inequality on Long Island and the country.

"Tax the rich!" they yelled while being physically escorted out of The American Hotel, according to a social media video posted by an organization called Planet Over Profit, which describes itself as a youth-led, direct action group that confronts systemic inequality.

The coalition of protest groups was airing its grievances through direct protests in some of Long Island’s affluent destinations as part of the Workers Over Billionaires National Day of Action over Labor Day weekend. But demonstrators said they will show up at many other places frequented by Long Island's rich to express their discontent in several places, including around opulent estates and an exclusive country club, activists said.

A video posted on X garnered more than 1,400 likes and over 300 retweets as of Wednesday afternoon.

We confronted the 1% in one of the Hampton's most expensive restaurants. They kicked us in the neck.

These are the people responsible for installing this fascist regime. The dystopian world Trump is making is a paradise for them, and them alone.

They can't get away with it. pic.twitter.com/mZniS6DdT6

— Planet Over Profit (@pop4climate) August 30, 2025

Eren Ileri, core organizer with Planet Over Profit, said the organization participated in the protest in part to reach the hotel's affluent clientele.

Ileri, who took part in the protest there, said the demonstrators stood in front of the restaurant’s patrons and talked about the injustice of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations and "how the money flowing from the Hamptons to political decision makers is enabling this."

The demonstrators were not charged by police after they were removed, according to the Sag Harbor Express.

A person who picked up the phone at The American Hotel declined to comment on Friday.

"Labor Day is about honoring workers, and that includes the millions who keep small businesses alive. Protests that target wealth may raise awareness, but they can also unintentionally hurt the local shops, restaurants, and workers who depend on customers of every income level," Robert Fonti, chair of the Suffolk County Alliance of Chambers, said in a statement to Newsday. "Supporting fair wages and good jobs goes hand-in-hand with keeping small businesses strong — because both are essential to thriving communities."

Planet Over Profit also has been linked with obstructing a speech by New York City Mayor Eric Adams and protests of Tesla, according to The New York Times. Among the changes Ileri advocates for are New York pension funds being moved from companies run by billionaires who are making political donations and immigration arrests no longer being carried out at routine court proceedings.

"With these actions, we hope to shine a light on how billionaires are very real people who live in our communities, who make decisions that harm our communities," Ileri said.

Ileri, 29, said the group has more direct action events planned for Long Island.

"We want to build a movement, a movement of people who say enough is enough, and we're willing to disrupt business as usual," he said.

Vincent Vertuccio is a spokesman for Our Revolution, a nonprofit started by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to combat corporate power and vote in progressives, which took part in protests that weekend. Vertuccio said the ultrarich should not be able to run away from the people they are impacting with their political decisions — including donating to candidates that don’t strengthen the safety net.

"I don't think it's unreasonable that those folks should have to endure a couple of moments of discomfort to understand what both their lifestyles and their political and financial decisions are inflicting on the rest of the country," Vertuccio said in a phone interview.

But Vertuccio said he is not concerned about people who detest direct action protest strategies, noting, "There has really never been any protest of any kind that people have not objected to on the basis of disapproval of the tactics."

"If everybody likes your protests and thinks that you were super great and respectful, you probably aren't protesting anything at all," the Sayville resident said.

Timothy Gorman, an associate professor in the sociology department of Montclair State University in New Jersey, said disruption is a classic page in the playbook of social movements, whether they be lunch counter sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement or disruptive protests at government offices during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

"You can call attention to your cause," he said in a phone interview. "You can shake things up."

But he cautions that disruption alone is not often enough to bring about actual, lasting change. Instead, it should be coupled with a broad social strategy, pressuring lawmakers and creating a wide network of churches and other institutions. Looking at some of Planet Over Profit's protest videos, he said the group's demands aren't always clear.

"Sometimes actions can succeed in getting attention, but it’s not always clear on ... what you're trying to mobilize people to do," he said, later adding that protests such as these are "kind of playing a long game of like-shaping perceptions down the line, rather than trying to succeed in some sort of immediate win."

Newsday's John Asbury contributed to this story.