Florida is a “stand your ground” state but you would not know it from how Orlando bike cops treated Palestine marchers at Lake Eola on March 16, 2024. On that day, on our second lap around Lake Eola, an Israel supporter assaulted marchers but was apparently kept at bay by his own limited fighting skills. I did not see the initial incident but the aftermath was ugly. Not long after saying right into the camera that they were there to keep us safe, cops did something very different. The march was stopped, two people were being “questioned” by cops while they argued with one of the marchers. Unknown who the other two were. When one of the marchers told the cops they had been physically assaulted, cops responded that they only intervention they would make would be to arrest both sides for “fighting”-in a stand your ground state!

This is like the worst excesses of how some schools treat students harassed by bullies. This is intolerable in any school and is intolerable in the street too. Self-defense against physical violence is a human right. So it is at Lake Eola-and so it is in Gaza.

The cops did not proceed to arrest attempts, it seems their actual intent was to say “You are on your own. We stand with Israel and you are responsible for your own security.” Message received: if Zionists assault protesters, the arrival of cops is the arrival of more Zionists. Thus the common chant in Orlando “OPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same!”

Cops don’t keep us safe, we keep us safe!