ORLANDO, Fla. – Supporters of the former rainbow colored crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub moved their protest to Orlando City Hall this week.
Messages against the Florida Department of Transportation’s repainting of the crosswalk were written in chalk outside the city hall building on Tuesday.
The shift in the ongoing protest came after a judge in Orange County found that probable cause existed for the arrests of three people protesting at the crosswalk outside the former Pulse nightclub Sunday night.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrested Zane Aparicio, 39, Mary Jane East, 25, and Melody Short, 26, Sunday, after they were observed using chalk to cover the crosswalk.
[VIDEO: : 3 arrested at latest protest outside of crosswalk near Pulse]
The crosswalk outside Pulse has taken on outsized significance over the last two weeks, after crews with the FDOT removed the rainbow paint from the crosswalk late last month. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer condemned the move, which city officials said came as a surprise.
Each day since FDOT’s initial work on the crosswalk, critics of the state have returned to the site to cover it in rainbow colors with chalk, as a tribute to the 49 people killed inside Pulse.
FHP cited Florida statute 316.0775 in the arrest reports for Aparicio, East, and Short, accusing them of interfering with a traffic control device and causing damages exceeding $1,000.
[VIDEO: Judge finds probable cause in arrest of three crosswalk protesters]
On Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis spoke about the recent arrests during a news conference in Orlando.
“You do not have a right to take somebody else’s property for your messaging purposes,” DeSantis said. “They just decide they don’t like the law. They want to do what they want to do. That just isn’t going to fly.”
Blake Simons, an attorney representing the protesters, challenged the basis of the arrests during their first appearances Monday.
“I find the statute to be overly broad and vague as to what constitutes a traffic control device,” Simons argued before the judge Monday.
Simons contended that the crosswalk is “an extension of the sidewalk,” and that the sidewalk is a forum for free expression and speech.
[[VIDEO: New signs at Pulse, 1 arrested as Florida steps up rainbow fight]
“They were exercising their right to free speech,” Simons said.
The judge ruled that the protesters could be released on their own recognizance, but did maintain that probable cause existed for their arrests.
[VIDEO: Law enforcement monitoring Pulse crosswalk]