Community activist arrested before Gov. DeSantis’ press conference in Jacksonville
BY COURTESY: BOB SELF/FLORIDA TIMES-UNION JANUARY 4, 2022, 2:50 PM
Community activist arrested before Gov. DeSantis’ press conference in Jacksonville BY COURTESY: BOB SELF/FLORIDA TIMES-UNION JANUARY 4, 2022, 2:50 PM
Ben Frazier, a Jacksonville community activist, was arrested and escorted away from a government building where Gov. Ron DeSantis was scheduled to hold a press conference on Jan. 4, 2022.
Ben Frazier, a Jacksonville community activist, was arrested and escorted away from a government building where Gov. Ron DeSantis was set to host a news conference on Tuesday.
The confrontation started when DeSantis aides asked those present for the news conference at the Florida Department of Health building in Duval County to show media credentials.
The event was only open to credentialed journalists, they said. Frazier, 71, and a small group of citizens did not have such credentials.
But they refused to leave the room. The disagreement between DeSantis staffers — who kept asking Frazier and his group to leave — and the activists was broadcast on The Florida Channel.
“This is a public building, and we don’t intend on moving,” Frazier told the aides at one point. The governor was not in the room at the time. Frazier is the president of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, which says its mission is to “stand against racial, economic and social injustice.” He told DeSantis aides he was there to meet with the governor.
While they argued with the governor’s aides, the activists took issue with DeSantis’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, the anti-rioting legislation he pushed during the 2021 legislative session and his rhetoric about critical race theory. After several minutes, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputies put handcuffs on Frazier and led him out of the building.
While they did so, Frazier asked the officers why he was the only person being handcuffed. Frazier faces a trespassing charge, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, according to a citation document obtained from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.