Highway, Airport Protest Bill: Dayton Makes Decision

After it passed both the Minnesota House and Senate, Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a public safety bill because of a controversial provision adding new penalties for freeway and airport protesters.

Under current Minnesota law, someone who intentionally blocks traffic on a freeway or at an airport can be charged with a misdemeanor. The bill approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate would increase the crime to a gross misdemeanor.

"Current law gives law enforcement the authority and tools needed to protect public safety," Dayton said in a statement.

"Furthermore, other illegal acts committed by individuals during protests, such as an assault against a police officer, are properly classified by themselves as gross misdemeanors or more severe."

Along with blocking traffic, other crimes currently classified as a misdemeanor in Minnesota include:

• Disorderly conduct
• Thefts of less than $500
• First time DWIs with readings below .20
• 5th degree assault
• Domestic assault.

Before Dayton's veto, a number of House Democrats, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, accused the provision's supporters of trying to stifle free speech.

"Not one single County Attorney, Chief of Police, or City Official has testified in support of intensifying penalties for people exercising their peaceful right to protest in public," Omar said in a statement.

"That is because this is a bad idea. Yet, Republicans continue their attempt to silence voices and to criminalize the very type of non-violent protest that African Americans used to bring about the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's."

Republican supporters of the bill said the increased punishment is aimed at deterring illegal behavior, not free speech.

"If you're standing out on a freeway or closing an airport, I don't care if you're pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, if you're fighting for indigenous rights or racial justice, I don't give a rip," said Farmington Republican Rep. Pat Garofalo, according to Session Daily.

"You're standing in the middle of a freeway. You're closing down an airport. It doesn't matter what the cause is. You're shutting down critical important transportation corridors that affect commerce and save lives."

Top image: Police arrest protestors on highway 35W on July 13, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Demonstrators shut down the highway to protest the killing of Philando Castile by a Falcon Heights, Minnesota police officer on July 6, 2016. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)