FACE THE PEOPLE

Activist Handcuffed at DeSantis Presser After Calling Guv an ‘Enemy of the People’

“Is he going to run and hide or is he going to face the people?”

A news conference held by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Jacksonville got heated when Floridians demanded to speak with their elected official, who has largely stayed out of the public eye as his state shatters COVID records. When community organizer Ben Frazier situated himself inside the scheduled conference room, he was accused of disrupting the meeting that hadn’t even started and was asked to leave. “The people are here to hold this governor accountable,” Frazier explained. When a conference organizer claimed the dissenter’s methods weren’t “proper,” Frazier responded, “What’s the proper way, sir, not to follow our First Amendment rights? ... This governor is an enemy of the people. ... Is he going to run and hide or is he going to face the people?” Representatives for the governor then claimed that the building must be kept “secure” and that only members of the press, not the public, were allowed. Frazier was eventually handcuffed as he chanted, “When it comes to public welfare, this governor does not care!”