Florida's DeSantis Seeks Tough Penalties For Protesters
Source: Bloomberg/MSN
Jonathan Levin, 4 hrs. ago. (Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and local lawmakers unveiled legislation Monday that targets participants in "violent or disorderly" protests, a move that may help rally law-and-order Republicans ahead of the presidential election in November.
Speaking Monday in Winter Haven, DeSantis called the plan the "boldest and most comprehensive" bill on violent protests. He said it would be a focal point of the Florida legislative session next year. He said the proposal -- called the Combatting Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act -- would make disorderly assemblies a third-degree felony. Incapacitating a roadway would also be a felony.
Organizers could be held accountable for demonstrations that turn violent. Yet drivers would be off the hook if they hurt or kill a protester with their vehicles while fleeing from what the legislative outline described as a "mob." Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the proposal was an attack on protesters calling for a stop to police brutality.
DeSantis "has chosen to respond to this moment by proposing an undemocratic and unconstitutional bill that would chill free speech and instill fear into people who have been fighting against injustice," Kubic said in a statement. Kubic said a plan to strip protesters of the right to bail until their first court appearance would eliminate "fundamental due process."...
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/florida-e2-80-99s-desantis-targets-protesters-he-dubs-e2-80-98crazed-lunatics-e2-80-99/ar-BB19gLNe
On Monday, DeSantis described protesters arrested in Portland, Oregon, as "scraggly-looking Antifa types" and called people videotaped chanting at restaurant patrons as "crazed lunatics." Anyone arrested for hurting a police officer, including throwing an object such as a brick, would face a mandatory minimum sentence of six months, he said.
"I look at what goes on in Portland, and they'll have people, they'll arrest them," DeSantis "They get their mug shot taken, and then they get released." DeSantis also said participation in violent or disorderly assemblies could cause people to lose state unemployment benefits..
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- 'Sledgehammer to Permanently Silence Opposing Voices': Outrage Over Florida Gov. DeSantis' Proposed Anti-Protest Bill.' "This effort has one goal: silence, criminalize, and penalize Floridians who want to see justice for Black lives," said ACLU of Florida executive director Micah Kubic.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/21/sledgehammer-permanently-silence-opposing-voices-outrage-over-florida-gov-desantis
- Demonstrators at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Miami, FL, June 6, 2020.
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