With the rise of ICE raids, everyone was angered by the fact that the agents were wearing masks to conceal their faces. As protests began to happen, protesters themselves started wearing masks, which seemed more than fair since ICE were already doing it. However, Trump recently said that no one could wear masks at protests and that they should be arrested. Now, there are two types of masks. The first one is a mask that covers your entire face. The second one can be called a surgical mask, which is very similar to the masks worn during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Georgia protester was wearing the second type and this led to her being arrested.
In a video shared on a local Georgia subreddit, you can see the protester standing in front of an officer. He asks her, “Are you going to take it off?” When she refused, he proceeded to turn her around and start zip-tying her hands as he arrested her. People around the innocent woman wondered why she was being arrested, and when she let them know the reason, they were outraged. One woman starts saying “This is wrong. This is crazy. We are like at a protest right now about like pro-democracy and someone is getting arrested for wearing a mask?”
The video ends before you can see what happens next, but OP made sure to provide an update. They stated that the Savannah PD in Georgia had released the woman. They also claimed that the police posted on Facebook citing the video and announcing that they told their officers to back off on “surgical masks.” OP also mentioned that the fact that this post went viral helped make a difference since the police department could see people’s outrage and backed off.
People Reacting to the Arrest of the Georgia Protester
The protesters in Georgia weren’t the only ones left outraged; people who saw the video had the same feeling. Several people pointed out that it was a surgical mask and no one should be arrested because of this. “That is a medical mask. Masks are only illegal if intending to conceal your identity. This is police overreach. ACAB,” one person wrote. Someone else claimed that the police officers were abusing their power as they said, “It’s almost as if overreaching and abusing power during a protest against this exact thing may lead to violence instead of peace. You’ll notice it was a peaceful protest until these people were unlawfully detained and man handled.”
The criticism didn’t stop there since more people kept coming after the police department. One example was someone saying, “Savannah PD continues to do what they do best: Be absolutely useless.” Another person made a comparison between ICE and the Georgia protester. They said, “Are they arresting the masked ICE agents too?”. Plus, the rise of unnecessary arrests recently made people believe that America has entered a dark road. “This country is f**ked,” one Redditor wrote. It’s a good thing that they released the woman, but she shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place.
