‘We drag these people’: Pro-Palestine protestors manually removed from Miami streets by police

MIAMI – A video posted by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press team has gone viral that depicts participants at a pro-Palestine demonstration being manually picked up and moved off the streets by local authorities.

“In Florida, we drag these people out of the road and arrest them,” said Bryan Griffin, communications director for DeSantis.

Griffin said that the video was taken at the direction of the Florida Highway Patrol in Miami on Monday, April 15.

At the demonstration, Miami police worked with Florida Highway Patrol to keep the city’s streets orderly and clear for traffic, Griffin said.

“Take notes NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and D.C.,” said the Heritage Foundation. “Letting protestors obstruct your roadways is a choice.”

DeSantis in 2021 signed a law revising existing statutes, which were previously declared unconstitutional, cracking down on those who block roadways.

Individuals commit violations under state law if they impede, hinder, stifle or restrain traffic or passage in roadways, if they stand on and/or remain in the roadway, or if they endanger the “safe movement of vehicles or pedestrians” in the roadway.

“This is the way it should be done everywhere,” said Riley Gaines, a political influencer and former competitive swimmer at the University of Kentucky. “God bless Florida.”

Florida’s situation is in stark contrast to California’s Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which was entirely blocked off on Monday due to pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

According to CBS, the bridge was shut down in both directions for “hours.”