Pro-Palestine protests erupted across the nation on Monday, with some protesters halting traffic for multiple hours.
But in Florida, it was a much different story.
Video posted by WSVN-TV shows Miami police promptly responding to a group of pro-Palestine protesters attempting to hold up traffic and block the entrance to PortMiami.
Miami police spokesman Michael Vega told the Miami Herald that officers arrested seven individuals who obstructed traffic and refused to remain in the designated area at the intersection at Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 3 Street.
Obstructing a roadway is a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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About 150 protesters at the event, which was organized by the South Florida Coalition for Palestine, held up signs bearing slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “No tax [dollars] for genocide.” The latter referred to Monday being Tax Day in the U.S.
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“We are seeing resistance by the Palestinian people and by the world. People are fed up and cannot bear to watch this genocide continue or have our tax dollars go to funding war and weapons being used to murder Palestinians. This is why we are here today,” one of the protesters told the Miami Herald.
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While police were quick to respond to the protests taking place in Miami, the same cannot be said in San Francisco and Chicago.
According to KPIX-TV, protesters shut down the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for hours.
One San Francisco commuter, Ronald Davis, told Fox News that he was stuck on the Bridge from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and had to miss over half of his workday.
“I just buried my brother. I’m trying to make as much money as I can right now to still cover his funeral costs,” Davis told the news network. “Having to miss six hours of work, that’s a lot of money, you know. That’s pretty much a day’s worth of work,” he added.
“You know, it’s just such an inconvenience and very devastating.”
A YouTube video published by Firstpost showed police standing idly by as protesters blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge.
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A similar protest caused even more issues at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, where WBBM-TV reported that a protest caused “substantial delays” to air traffic, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. The protest lasted for about 45 minutes.
Pro-Palestine protests have become increasingly audacious as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its eighth month.
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Earlier this month, protesters in Dearborn, Michigan, were seen chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” according to Fox News.
It’s devastating to see such hatred for America in our own country. It’s equally disheartening to see police in San Francisco placate protesters, to the detriment of many San Franciscans.
While police in Miami were quick to respond, officers in San Francisco were content to let the protesters disrupt the lives of thousands of people.
Many of these protesters hold just as much hatred in their hearts for the United States as they do for Israel. So why are some police quick to take action, while others are keen to stand by and watch?
As with many issues in our nation, it comes down to an ideological split. The left has gravitated toward the anti-Israel, anti-America camp, and the actions of the police in Democrat-run San Francisco show the repercussions of this firsthand.
Meanwhile, in Florida, the letter of the law still means something, and those protesting out of hatred of our country should not be coddled.
Of course, everyone has the right to protest in this country. However, disrupting the peace by blocking traffic and chanting “Death to America” are not exactly the behaviors we want to promote in our country.
The way we treat these protesters shows the kind of America we want to live in: Do we want to promote law and order, and discourage vitriol towards our country, or do we want to foster hatred and chaos, and sit by while protesters call for our death?
Which would you rather have?
