Three anti-lockdown demonstrators arrested while protesting beach closures
'They're saying the sand is closed...they literally drew the line in the sand.'
Three anti-lockdown demonstrators were arrested while protesting beach closures hours after officials announced they would be loosening stay-at-home restrictions.
Police in San Diego, California said they arrested the trio in Encinitas on Saturday for violating health orders. Just hours earlier, county officials announced they would be rolling back restrictions on the beaches.
The protests saw an estimated 75 to 100 demonstrators gather near the beach to call for its reopening. Authorities said the three protesters who were arrested refused to comply with numerous verbal warnings before they were taken into custody. The rest of the protesters reportedly marched to Swami’s Beach Park without incident before dispersing.
Saturday’s protests come after similar demonstrations have occurred in San Diego, Newport Beach Sacramento, Huntington Beach and San Clemente in the past few days. Rallies to reopen states have taken place in cities across the country for weeks.
San Diego police said a woman who allegedly organized a protest could face a misdemeanor charge of encouraging others to violate stay-at-home orders, which were put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19. Authorities said that a man was also arrested hours after a protest in Huntington Beach for allegedly threatening a TV news cameraman with a knife. None of the protesters who were arrested have been identified.
One of the protesters at Saturday’s ralley in Encinitas, said she knew officials announced the loosened beach restrictions, but she disagreed with rules put in place to phase in the reopening, such as face covering requirements and prohibitions against sunbathing.
‘I’m either free or I’m not,’ Curtis told USA Today on Saturday. She was not one of the protesters arrested at the rally.
Curtis said she plans to continue protesting and added that the arrests occurred after some demonstrators walked off the sidewalk at the beach and onto the sand.
‘They’re saying the sand is closed…they literally drew the line in the sand,’ She said.
California has seen more than 42,000 people test positive for coronavirus and at least 1,695 have died from the virus.