Austin activist group Defend our Hoodz on Saturday is planning an anti-gentrification protest directed at Lou’s Bodega restaurant on East Cesar Chavez, which some critics in social media have accused of appropriating Chicano and indigenous imagery for its marketing.

“We demand that Lou’s Bodega immediately end any use of Chicano and indigenous imagery in their branding, whether on merchandise, packaging or on their website,” Defend our Hoodz said in a Facebook post Friday. “This includes their ‘woman warrior’ tote bags, their T-shirts with ‘Bienvenidos’ on them, and indigenous patterns on hats and elsewhere.”

The window-service cafe with grab-and-go options sits at the former site of Leal’s Tire Shop, which is now operating under the name Gomez Tires on East Seventh Street. After the tire shop made the decision to move, Lou’s Bodega leased the property from the family that has owned it for decades, according to a statement released by McGuire Moorman Hospitality and Bunkhouse, the companies behind Lou's Bodega.

The business kept and restored many of the building’s well-known Aztec murals and added a new one of a female warrior. "Some of the branding for Lou’s Bodega is an extension of the preserved murals and we only hope to draw awareness to them and celebrate them," the statement said.

Defend our Hoodz is also protesting the cafe's sale of beers such as Pacifico in solidarity with a boycott of Constellation Brands products called by activist group Mexicali Resiste in Mexicali, Mexico.

McGuire Moorman Hospitality and Bunkhouse said the business has been vandalized multiple times and received threats of violence.

"We have been, and continue to have, lengthy conversations with longtime East Side residents and community leaders," the companies wrote. "We treat social media as a marketing platform and clearly use it to promote our business, not a place for people to promote hate or make threats. We believe face to face conversations are the ones worth having – real discussions that lead to growth and better understanding."

East Cesar Chavez Street has seen numerous longtime businesses depart and new ones launch in recent years. Last spring, a University of Texas study revealed that about 74 percent of longtime East Austin residents in the study area held negative views of the rapid changes. Some of their concerns included a feeling that new restaurants are unwelcoming, didn't cater to their tastes or were not priced for them.

Defend our Hoodz added on its protest event page that Lou's Bodega "added insult to injury by turning the beloved Chicano murals on Leal's into their 'branding opportunity.'"

McGuire Moorman Hospitality and Bunkhouse, which are behind other Austin hotels and restaurants such as Jo's Coffee and Clark's, said they stand by their branding of Lou's Bodega and their decision to open a business in East Austin.