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“As governor Dan McKee delivers empty promises in his state of the state address, the people demand our needs be met — not more handouts to the billionaires!”
More than 100 protesters were prevented from entering the Rhode Island State House rotunda on Tuesday night while Gov. Daniel McKee delivered his State of the State address.
The Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC said it planned to hold a “Peoples State of the State Address” at the state house an hour before the governor’s speech was set to begin with the aim of calling on McKee to “declare a state of emergency for the homelessness crisis.”
According to The Boston Globe, when demonstrators arrived, they found the rotunda cordoned off with a sign saying it was reserved from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. for the governor’s address. Television crews were also blocked from bringing cameras into the chamber during the speech, according to the newspaper.
“Both of these actions are very troubling from a free speech point of view,” Steven Brown, the executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, told the Globe. “It’s the people’s chamber. The media play an important part in covering it, and a state-run media outlet should not be the only one to video record it.”
Harrison Tuttle, president of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC, told the Globe that the move by the governor to block off the rotunda was “unprecedented” and prevented unhoused residents from exercising their First Amendment rights in the State House chamber.
“The governor is effectively determining where Rhode Islanders can use their voice talking about the issues that pertain to their lives,” Tuttle told the newspaper. “This sends a message to any Rhode Islander who ever wishes to come to the State House that unless the governor agrees with your reason for organizing or using your voice he will not allow you in certain places in the building.”
According to the newspaper, the rotunda was vacant during McKee’s speech. A spokesperson for the governor told the Globe that television cameras were banned as the result of a “miscommunication.”
Blocked from the rotunda, protesters marched and chanted on the first floor of the building during the governor’s speech, according to the Globe.
“As governor Dan McKee delivers empty promises in his state of the state address, the people demand our needs be met — not more handouts to the billionaires!” protest organizers wrote on social media.
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