Roughly two dozen people interrupted Oklahoma lawmakers at the state’s Capitol by chanting “black lives matter” in protest laws that would protect motorists fleeing riots and another that would ban transgender people from girls’ sports.
#BREAKING – This was the scene in the past 30 minutes inside the House Chambers at the Oklahoma State Capitol. @CassandraOnTV is following the story. @kfor https://t.co/QV6akw3D2c
— Patrick Spencer (@made4tv) April 21, 2021
Protesters entered the fifth floor and chanted “We will use our voices to stand against corruption, to fight hate, to defend black and brown lives,” Fox News reported. (RELATED: ‘Burn The Whole City Down’: BLM Protesters At Floyd Memorial Compare Police Shootings To ‘A Genocide’)
This is misleading as well. The galleries were locked, but the protestors did not “force Oklahoma capitol lockdown,” to my knowledge as someone who was here in the building pic.twitter.com/329So6HFXd
— Dillon Richards (@KOCODillon) April 22, 2021
Some protesters were asked to leave the building following loud chanting, including “no justice no peace,” KOCO reported.
Following several minutes, the session resumed.
The protesters were demonstrating against Republican-backed bills. One bill, which was signed into law Wednesday, protects a driver who “unintentionally causes injury or death” while fleeing a riot, according to KFOR.
“You can protest all you want, I encourage that, but once you start throwing things at people’s cars, and trying to break their windows and pull them out of the car, it’s no longer a protest, that’s what you call a riot,” State Sen. Rob Standridge said, according to KFOR.
Another bill signed into law, House Bill 1643, made it a crime to dox law enforcement officials online.
“You are traitors, insurrectionists, seditionists,” one woman shouted at the lawmakers, according to Fox News.
The “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which would prohibit transgender girls from competing in female sports, passed the House by a 73-19 vote.