Black Lives Matter and back the blue protesters meet outside South Tampa CVS

Local Black Lives Matter and “back the blue” demonstrators came face to face in South Tampa on Saturday. The meeting happened outside of a Howard Avenue CVS store, which is just a few blocks away from where a Sept. 15 auto collision led to the arrest of two protesters.

The same collision also involved a pharmacist who was driving home from work before she called 911 to complain about the protesters blocking traffic, express that she felt endangered and make clear that, “If I have to, I'm going to run over them.”

Tampa’s chief of police has since said that running protesters over is illegal. It’s a good thing nothing illegal happened on Saturday, however, because State Attorney Andrew Warren (who recently dropped charges against protesters and proclaimed he wasn’t charging muralists who illegally painted a “back the blue” mural in downtown Tampa) was in the wings just checking out the happenings. Here’s a friendly reminder that there’s no expectation of privacy when you’re out protesting in public places. —Ray Roa

09/19/2020 | Photos by Dave Decker