Black Lives Matter activists say Florida authorities have enforced a new felony protest law with a double standard after protesters demonstrating conditions in Cuba blocked busy roadways Tuesday in Miami, Tampa, and Orlando but were not arrested.
“When they protest for regime change, which aligns with the governor’s political viewpoint ... you see no enforcement from law enforcement,” Michael Sampson, a founder of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, told the Associated Press.
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“I think it’s just downright hypocrisy we’re seeing from the governor, and even law enforcement in how they’re applying this law,” Sampson continued. “It goes to show how our fears that we had earlier … that it will be used against Black people fighting for equal rights.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted and signed legislation earlier this year severely penalizing protesters who block roadways and protecting drivers who use their cars to push through crowds. Republican state lawmakers drafted the law in response to protests last year calling for racial equity.
The ACLU of Florida filed a motion in federal court Wednesday to block the law, similar to the motions it filed on behalf of Black protesters in May. The legal group argues the law violates the First Amendment.
After seeing the protests in Miami firsthand Tuesday, Gov. DeSantis justified the varied enforcement by demonizing demonstrations last summer as “fundamentally different.”
On Twitter, the governor’s spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, wrote: “They are furious that the Governor of Florida didn’t personally drive 500 miles down the state to arrest people for protesting (not rioting) against the communist regime in Cuba.”
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