Florida judge dismisses vandalism charge against Pulse club crosswalk protester
Activists have been covering a zebra crossing in Orlando with rainbow chalk in protest against Florida state official's decision to remove the tribute to the 2016 shooting victims
A judge in Florida has dismissed charges against a protestor who was arrested for colouring a crosswalk in Orlando with rainbow chalk, after state officials removed a memorial to the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting last month.
According to Rolling Stone, Sebastian Suarez was arrested at the road crossing, which is just outside of the now-demolished nightclub, by Florida Highway Patrol officers on Friday (August 29).
He was arrested under charges of defacing property after allegedly "colouring the bottom of his shoe with chalk" and leaving footprints across the crossing.
Suarez has now been released from jail after a judge found "no probabe cause" as to why he should be charged with vandalism.
Read this next: Florida state officials remove rainbow crosswalk memorial for Pulse nightclub victims
Several other activists have been painting the crosswalk with rainbow-coloured chalk since last week, when Florida State Transport officials removed rainbow paint from the street, which had acted as a memorial to the victims of the mass-shooting, in which 49 people were killed in an anti-LGBTQIA+ hate crime.
Last week, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he was "devastated" by the memorial’s removal, calling it a "callous and cruel political act", adding that the crosswalk is “part of the Pulse Memorial installed by the state".
He added that the memorial “adhered to national safety standards”, and honoured what was the “nation’s largest mass shooting” at the time of the incident.
Read this next: Orlando to make Pulse nightclub a memorial for victims of homophobic mass shooting
Speaking to WESH, Suarez said: “We put some chalk down on the ground, and before we knew it, an officer was approaching us, saying, ‘We wanna talk to you,’” he said. “I identified myself, tried to do everything the correct way, and before I knew it, I was in the back of a squad car.”
“To come here and do something like this, and to be threatened with something so extreme as a felony charge for protesting and showing love to your fellow human, it’s just insane in my opinion," he continues.
Despite installing several roadside signs that read: "Defacing Roadway Prohibited", transport officials have not commented on last week's removal - however, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis posted a comment on Twitter claiming: “We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.”
[Via: Rolling Stone]
Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter