Nassau county in New York carried out a controversial ban on carrying face coverings in public on Wednesday, in a transfer criticized by state politicians and civil rights advocates.
The Masks Transparency Act, signed into legislation by Bruce Blakeman, the Republican county government, makes it a misdemeanor for anybody to put on a facial masking to cover their identification in public. Individuals who defy the legislation may very well be sentenced to as much as a yr in jail and a $1,000 nice, though there are some exemptions for well being or spiritual causes.
Opponents of the invoice have described it as “a harmful misuse of the legislation to attain political factors and goal protestors”, given it was launched in response to protests towards Israel’s warfare on Gaza, whereas one New York state senator warned that it “might result in anti-Asian hate”.
Blakeman, a controversial Trump supporter who in a current publish on X stated the “Democrat[ic] Occasion is a sizzling mattress for Jew Hate, pro-criminal insurance policies and anti-Americanism!,” stated the ban is a “invoice that protects the general public”, NBC Information reported. The politician criticized pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia College in New York Metropolis, and claimed the ban would scale back crime, however others disagree.
“Nassau county’s masks ban is a harmful misuse of the legislation to attain political factors and goal protestors. Barring individuals who converse out from defending themselves and their identities places their well being and well-being in peril, significantly individuals with disabilities, individuals of shade, and people with unpopular views,” Susan Gottehrer, the regional director of the Nassau county New York Civil Liberties Union, stated after the invoice was handed.
“Masks shield individuals who categorical political beliefs which are unpopular. Making nameless protest unlawful chills political motion and is ripe for selective enforcement, resulting in doxxing, surveillance and retaliation towards protesters.”
In a press release, Iwen Chu, a New York state senator, stated carrying masks is “a standard apply in lots of Asian cultures” which some have adopted “as a societal duty to forestall well being crises from spreading”.
Chu added: “I’m involved about the potential for bias and hate crimes stemming from this new masks prohibiting laws. Laws like this may occasionally result in anti-Asian hare and discrimination in direction of the masks wanted inhabitants on account of well being, tradition, spiritual causes.”
The invoice was launched by Mazi Pilip, a Republican legislator who ran unsuccessfully for Congress earlier this yr. Pilip claimed “terrorist supporters across the nation and particularly in New York are hiding behind the masks and terrorizing the Jewish neighborhood”.
The invoice was handed by the Republican-controlled Nassau county legislature on 6 August. Howard Kopel, a Republican legislator who voted for the invoice, stated the measure was launched in response to “antisemitic incidents, typically perpetrated by these in masks” since Israel started its warfare on Gaza.
In June, Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, was reportedly contemplating imposing a ban on masks on the New York Metropolis subway system.
