12/24/2024
From The Jewish Observer
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From the Observer:
Metro Council Passes Four Bills Aimed at Curbing Hate Groups
via The Jewish Observer
Metro Council passed, and Mayor Freddie O’Connell signed, four ordinances designed to deter hate groups coming into Nashville, as some did over the summer, demonstrating in front of West End Synagogue and downtown businesses, and disrupted a Metro Council meeting. Some groups wore face masks, others demonstrated and hung antisemitic signs on overpasses. This was in addition to the group that littered private homes with antisemitic fliers over the last couple of years. Metro Council member Sheri Weiner (District 22), says, “If you look at those four, what it does, it just gives the police and the courts more teeth. We didn’t have enough teeth for the police to grab hold of. That was one of the biggest problems we saw.”
The ordinances include changes that will:
restrict the solicitation or distribution of handbills on private property to daylight hours,
create exemptions for wearing masks or disguises in public, including health and sincerely held beliefs,
create buffer zones around public buildings and parking lots,
prohibit placement of unauthorized signs, signals, or markings above a highway.
Weiner says each of those ordinances had approximately 19 sponsors, which amounts to nearly half of the entire council. “The hope here is that these new measures offer more of a deterrent to people showing up. But if you show up, you can’t hide your identity. And that was one of the things they were doing.”
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