On Monday, protesters convened inside the Florida Capitol building and outside City Hall in Tallahassee to express their opposition to the state’s proposed six-week abortion ban, which was passed by the Senate mostly along party lines.
Protesters disrupted the debate on Florida’s proposed six-week abortion ban inside the Capitol building, repeatedly shouting at senators who supported the ban, until Senate President Kathleen Passidomo had the gallery cleared.
Meanwhile, activists had occupied the plaza in front of City Hall since early in the day to voice their concerns. Later that evening, Tallahassee police arrested around a dozen protesters, including Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried and Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book.
Fried is a former Agriculture secretary for Florida and ran against Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.
Fried and Book were part of a group of activists who assembled outside City Hall in Tallahassee on Monday to protest against the proposed six-week abortion ban. The activists, who vowed to defend “reproductive freedom,” had attempted to obtain permits for the protests previously, but were denied or revoked, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Sarah Parker of Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida stated that although it is up to Tallahassee officials to ask protesters to leave, she and others decided to come to there to protest against “DeSantis using women’s bodies to advance a his career.”
Police began asking people to disperse Monday afternoon and after sunset, 11 people, including Fried and Lauren, were taken away by police while sitting in a circle and singing “Lean on Me,” the outlet reported.
Occupy Tallahassee and Florida Planned Parenthood Action tweeted that Fried and Book were released early Tuesday morning, along with nine other protesters who were released over the next few hours. After her release, Fried tweeted, “I’m out. And not ever backing down. Just ***ing vote @FlaDems!!!”
The TPD released a statement saying that the city had attempted to cooperate with the protestors but ultimately determined that the group aimed to occupy the plaza in front of City Hall for an extended period and attract individuals from across the state, which the city cannot allow.
“After multiple warnings throughout the day, protestors acknowledged they understood that anyone refusing to leave the premises at sundown would be subject to arrest,” said the release. “This evening, after sunset, the majority of the crowd left the property while 11 people refused to leave despite numerous requests. They were subsequently arrested for trespass after warning.”
“Fried graduated from the University of Florida and worked as a corporate lawyer in Jacksonville before becoming a public defender for Florida’s 8th Circuit, then a foreclosure defense lawyer, and finally a lobbyist, creating her own lobbying firm in 2016 advocating for at-risk children and medical marijuana,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported, adding: “In 2018 Fried became the only Democratic candidate to win a statewide race in Florida when she narrowly squeaked out a win for Commissioner of Agriculture, becoming the first Democrat to hold that position since 1998 and the only woman to have ever been elected to the role.”
