According to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, the new “anti-riot” laws in Florida are reportedly being violated.
A lawyer in civil rights in Orlando filed the case in U.S. District Court in Orlando on behalf of the Task Force Lawyers Matter Task Force, a nonprofit group. Defendants named in the lawsuit include Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
“The purpose of these laws is nothing more than an attempt to silence the Black Lives Matter movement and other civil society organizations by limiting the ability to protest,” attorney Aaron Carter Bates told the Orlando Sentinel said in a statement. “The first amendment is a pillar of American democracy, and the ‘anti-riot’ laws are clearly stripping Floridians of their freedom of speech and assembly.”
DESANTIS MESSAGES THAT TESTING IS OK, BUT ROTATION IS ‘UNACCEPTABLE’: FLORIDA SHERIFF
DeSantis signed the ‘anti-riot’ bill this week. It increases the fines for crimes committed during riots and is aimed at ‘combating public disorder’.
Government Ron DeSantis is seen on March 2, 2021.
The Florida Senate passed the bill 23-17 last week. It was seen as a response to protests in the country due to police brutality against African Americans.
“If you look at the breadth of this particular legislation, it’s the strongest anti-riot legislation, legislation in the country,” DeSantis said. “There’s just nothing nearby.”
The law, which went into effect immediately, grants civil legal immunity to people driving through protesters and blocking a road, allowing authorities to keep arrested protesters out of bail until after their first court date. The legislation increases the levy for a police officer during a riot and adds language that could force local governments to justify a reduction in law enforcement budgets.
DESANTIS SIGNS FLORIDA’S ‘ANTI-RIOT’ BILL
The law allows people to sue local governments for personal or property damage if they were determined to infringe on law enforcement during civil unrest. It also increases the fines for protesters who block roads or desecrate public monuments and create a new crime, ‘mob intimidation’.
“According to them, these laws are unconstitutional on the basis of the law,” the lawsuit alleges. ‘They focus on protected speech under the first amendment [and] they are written for the purpose of defining such protest as a ‘riot’ or participating in a protest as ‘inciting a riot’. “
In the case, it is alleged the law will subject those arrested to “excessive bail, fines or cruel and unusual punishment as a means of preventing the speech from disagreements,” contrary to the Eighth Amendment. It is also contrary to the determination of the legal proceedings of the Fourteenth Amendment.
A spokesman for the governor told the Orlando Sentinel that his office had not yet served the case, “but we will see the legal merits of [the bill], which protects businesses, supports law enforcement and ensures punishment for those who cause violence in our communities. ‘
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Meanwhile, a sheriff’s spokesman in Orange County said, “As far as sheriff Mina is concerned, this lawsuit is without merit. … Therefore, we intend to dismiss a motion.”