14 youths arrested for protest and sit-in at Ron DeSantis’ office in Florida

More than a dozen people who took part in a sit-in at the Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ offices.to protest his policies and try to talk to him, were arrested and formally charged for having remained in his office for more than a year. without permission at a location after closing hours.

The Dream Defenders organization, the convener of the protest, announced Thursday via. Twitter that the 14 detainees were released. in the wee hours of the morning and, in addition to the charges, they were banned from the Florida Capitol for one year.

According to local media in Florida’s capital city of Tallahassee, the 14 arrested last night were the ones who were refused to leave the halls leading to the governor’s office in the Capitol.

Among those arrested are members of organizations in favor of “dreamers”, the beneficiaries of the DACA program, which grants immigration benefits to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

All were charged with misdemeanor counts of. breaking and entering.

Dozens of protesters began the sit-in but by the time dozens of police arrived on the scene only those remained 14 chanting in DeSantis’ office.

“Florida is on fire.”

Gretl Plessinger, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, explained that “once the building closes, unless you have an office in the Capitol, you can’t be here.” The 14 said they refused to leave Until they had a meeting with the governor.

“DeSantis likes to meet with his donors, the people who voted with him, his little friends, but he doesn’t seem to want to confront people to Who don’t really like him.” said Nailah Summers-Polite, co-executive director of the Dream Defendants organization.

“Florida is on fire, and he’s running around the country and around the world while lawmakers under his boot are passing really harmful legislation,” he said.

The human rights group Dream Defenders almost a decade ago organized a month-long sit-in In the office of then Governor and now Senator Rick Scott.

At that time, Scott rejected their demands for a special committee to review a law that allows shooting another person if the one holding the gun feels threatened.

But Scott did meet with the protesters, the Tallahassee Democrat highlighted.