Local Black Lives Matter and “back the blue” demonstrators came face to face in South Tampa on Saturday. The meeting happened outside of a Howard Avenue CVS store, which is just a few blocks away from where a Sept. 15 auto collision led to the arrest of two protesters.
The same collision also involved a pharmacist who was driving home from work before she called 911 to complain about the protesters blocking traffic, express that she felt endangered and make clear that, “If I have to, I'm going to run over them.”
Tampa’s chief of police has since said that running protesters over is illegal. It’s a good thing nothing illegal happened on Saturday, however, because State Attorney Andrew Warren (who recently dropped charges against protesters and proclaimed he wasn’t charging muralists who illegally painted a “back the blue” mural in downtown Tampa) was in the wings just checking out the happenings. Here’s a friendly reminder that there’s no expectation of privacy when you’re out protesting in public places. —Ray Roa
