![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Anti-riot.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSome oppose the bill as they feel it will restrict freedom of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill passed 76-39, following almost five hours of debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As reported by the AP, republican supporters feel the bill will protect order but Democrats opponents feel it could hurt social movements, such as Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt seems that freedom of speech was free up until Black and brown people started talking,\u201d said Democratic Rep. Tray McCurdy, who said he protested the death of George Floyd last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf this bill were law last summer \u2026 instead of being a member of the state House, I\u2019d probably be a member of somebody\u2019s jailhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans argue that rather than affecting freedom of speech, the bill will protect people and their property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe First Amendment doesn\u2019t protect violence,\u201d said Republican Rep. Cord Byrd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was the first to call for the legislation, back in September. The proposal followed the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, supporters have used the U.S. Capitol riots as another example of why the bill is a good idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill would require anyone arrested during a violent protest to be held in jail until a court appearance. Additionally, it would create a mandatory minimum 6-month sentence for anyone convicted of battery on a law enforcement officer during a riot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are violent elements in society, there is evil in society, and when they try to destroy things, when they try to turn discussion into destruction, we need to stand up,\u201d said Republican Rep. Jason Fischer. \u201cMass violence is not welcome here in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An \u201canti-riot\u201d bill was passed by the Florida House on Friday. The bill would crack down on people who participate in violent protests. Some oppose the bill as they feel… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":48034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}