South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Crowd defies beach closure, stages protest on the sand
At times loud and defiant, at times solemn and patriotic, a crowd of about three dozen defied Fort Lauderdale’s July 4 beach closure and took to the sands Saturday, planting an American flag there.
Fort Lauderdale police officers hung back, making no arrests and saying nothing as some protesters drank from open champagne or beer bottles, where Las Olas Boulevard meets the sands. Some went for a swim. Almost none of them wore masks. Many waved signs for President Trump, or wore his campaign hats.
Organizer Chris Nelson of Fort Lauderdale, a security guard, said closing the beach because of the COVID-19 pandemic was wrong. He and others said they oppose mask mandates and business closures, and objected to having to watch fireworks on television in order to avoid spreading the virus.
“It is wrong. It’s unconstitutional,” he said. “We are here to walk on this beach.”
Terrence Williams, a homeless Black man, said he was present to be the person arrested for the group’s breach, if necessary.
Signs at the protest read “Freedom over fear,” “Open the beach, no masks,” “.01% not a pandemic.”
“Say no to tyranny!” shouted
Maria Pinzon, a nurse.
She held a sign that depicted a masked face and the words “I can’t breathe,” a twist on the last words of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of police kicked off the Black Lives Matter protests. The flip side of her sign said, “Jesus saves.”
“I’m a nurse,” she said. “The
Protesters, including Cindy Falco-DiCarrado, of the Republican State Committee, defy the Fort Lauderdale beach closure. only time I think a mask is needed is with my patients. It’s ridiculous and it’s a sign of being subservient to the powers that be.”
A Boynton Beach construction manager named Alan, who declined to give his last name, said he was offended that Black Lives Matter protesters could create autonomous zones where they didn’t acknowledge the powers of police.
“I declare this an autonomous zone!” he shouted as he stepped onto the beach in a Trump campaign hat.
“I’m the white, privileged guy who worked 60 hours a week,” he said. “My father worked more. Is that what white privilege is?”
He said the shutdown over COVID-19 had gone too far, and was prompting suicides, and joblessness. He was denied unemployment and food stamps, he said.
“I’m at the end of my rope,” the 63-year-old said.
Debra Savitz of Tamarac said she hadn’t been on the beach in four months, and thought the closure was “ridiculous.”
“This is about power,” she said. “It’s about hurting the economy during an election.”
A lone voice from the other side held a sign that read “Cover up AmeriKKKa. Your racism is showing.” The woman, a Plantation resident, said she’s from the Caribbean.
Two men at the event shouted at her, calling her a
“terrorist.”
Andrew Brett, a Trump supporter and head of the Broward Log Cabin Republicans, saw a black wrap around her face and head and said she was a Muslim. She said she wasn’t.
“She’s a jihadist terrorist!” he shouted. “She’s not an American. She’s a Muslim!”
Nearby, a man on a bike shouted “terrorist” at her, as well.
He held a poster declaring that all “Democrats are terrorists.”