A pair of mums allegedly ignored five signs advising them of the outside food ban when they went to see a movie with their children at Cinema 3 in Pukekohe, New Zealand. 

According to the New Zealand Herald, one of the women shared part of the incident on TikTok, showing the staff member asking the group to leave. 

The employee then says they will call the police because the patrons have broken “the rule for food”. 

A child can reportedly be heard crying off-camera, while another voice can be heard commenting on the employee’s race.

One of the mothers told the employee they had “no right” to make a five-year-old child cry, while the other said, “You are not going to kick us out; we are not dogs.” 

The video caption said the patrons had agreed to put the snacks away, but “we not gonna stop kids from eating” and claimed one child asked ‘Are the police going to kill my mum?’ to which the employee replied ‘Maybe’.

The TikTok, which has since been deleted, received 125,000 views in 24 hours, and set off debate about whether the action by cinema staff was warranted. 

Cinema operations manager Robert Greig told the Herald that while he couldn’t speak to the incident directly, “What I can tell you is members of my staff were made to feel unsafe. Some comments were made to them that made them very upset.”

Greig said food sales were critical to the cinema, and there are five signs that communicate the rule to customers. 

“The exact wording is ‘no outside food or drinks allowed’,” Greig said. 

“If we don’t have these policies and enforce them, we might as well not operate as a business because there’s just no way we would survive on ticket sales.”