After years of protests against police abuses in
Minneapolis, Baltimore, Standing Rock, and
beyond, law enforcement has found a way to try
and clamp down on any future mass movements by
quietly lobbying for bills that seek to criminalize protesting itself.
According
<http://inthesetimes.com/features/police_anti-protest_laws_trump.html>
Monday report from
<http://inthesetimes.com/features/police_anti-protest_laws_trump.html>
These Times, police associations, police unions,
district attorneys, and cops in leadership
positions have been lobbying in favor of Âprotest
suppression laws in at least eight states:
According to research conducted for In These
Times in partnership with
<https://www.patreon.com/user?u=6846535> to
the Ground, law enforcement in at least eight
statesÂArizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa,
Minnesota, Missouri, Washington and
WyomingÂlobbied on behalf of anti-protest bills
in 2017 and 2018. The bills ran the gamut from
punishing face coverings at protests to
increasing penalties for Âeconomic disruptionÂ
and highway blockage to criminalizing civil
protests that interfere with Âcritical infrastructure like oil pipelines.
Emboldened by the Trump administration,
<http://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/?location=&status=enacted&issue=&date=&type=legislative>
least 31 states have considered 62 pieces of
anti-protest legislation since November 2016,
with at least seven enacted and 31 still pending.
The full scope of police support for these bills is not yet known.
And theyÂre doing this lobbying largely out of
the public eye. In one example, Bob Kroll, the
president of the Minneapolis police union, told
In These Times the union is having Âongoing
meetings with lawmakers, including the author of
a failed bill to make blocking a highway
punishable by a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.
Asked about that unionÂs support, the ACLUÂs
legislative director in the state was taken
aback, saying it was Âthe first IÂve heard about
police backing any iteration of the bill. (An
interesting aside at the end of the story: Kroll,
who harshly criticized Black Lives Matter
protests in Minneapolis, admitted back in 2016
that heÂs a member of a motorcycle group
denounced by the Anti-Defamation League for tolerating white supremacy.)
While a review by the site found the results of
these efforts have so far been mixedÂof the
anti-protest laws tracked across eight states,
one was signed into law, two were vetoed, another
four are pending while the rest were voted down
or killedÂitÂs a troubling development in a
broader clampdown on free speech and the ability
to organize in public spaces. Meanwhile, the
Trump administration continues to
<https://splinternews.com/the-feds-still-chasing-inauguration-protesters-bring-1823563222>
prosecute nearly 200 activists arrested while protesting the inauguration.