Dozens of protesters began an afternoon sit-in to demand a meeting with Governor Ron DeSantis. By the time arrests were made Wednesday evening, only 14 were left. Perhaps they had to get home for dinner.

I say that with a little snark because that is the tone one of the protesters took as she spoke out about their demand to meet with the Florida governor.

The 14 said they refused to leave until they had a meeting with the governor.

“DeSantis likes to meet with his donors, the people who voted with him, his little pals, but he seems not to want to face the people who don’t actually like him,” said Nailah Summers-Polite, co-executive director of Dream Defenders. “If he won’t face us, he shouldn’t be the governor.”

“Florida is on fire, and he’s gallivanting around the country and around the world while the legislators under his boot are passing really harmful legislation,” she said.

His “little pals?” “Legislators under his boot”? Interesting language. Not inflammatory at all.

She sounds nice. I had to look up who Dream Defenders are and it turns out they are a “human rights non-profit organization that aims to end policing and abolish prisons (especially private prisons). It is geared towards people of color who share the goal of multi-racial organizing among other goals.” Oh. The abolish cops and prison people. Got it. What could go wrong? The same group hosted a sit-in in former Governor Rick Scott’s office that lasted a month about ten years ago. Did Rick Scott not have the spine to nip it in the bud?

The sit-in violated rules of the building so the arrests were made by the Florida Capitol Police and Florida Highway Patrol. Florida Fish and Wildlife officers were also present, according to Gretl Plessinger, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. She said that once the building closes, no one is allowed in it unless they have an office in the building. That’s why they were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor. They were booked into Leon County Jail.

Dream Defenders co-executive director Joel Edwards Mickles attended the protest a decade ago. She asks how the state could have declined so much ten years later. The group was founded after the death of Trayvon Martin. At the time, then-Governor Scott did meet with them but refused their demands for a special committee to re-evaluate the stand-your-ground law. DeSantis hasn’t agreed to a meeting with them.

The rules have changed since the sit-in in 2013.

The Capitol rules have changed since the 2013 sit-in. So instead, at 7 p.m., the group of protesters, which was also made up of members from other advocacy organizations like Florida Rising and Showing Up for Racial Justice members, were told they had 30 minutes to vacate the premises. If the protesters didn’t comply, law enforcement warned, they’d get charged with trespassing and banned from the Capitol for a year.

This warning was reinforced at multiple intervals by a loudspeaker that blared out the time remaining before arrests were made.

When law enforcement arrived to make the arrests, the protesters locked arms and began singing “Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Jesus” by Mississippi Fred McDowell. Officers brought each protester out one by one with their hands behind their backs.

Activists protesting Gov. Ron DeSantis and his policies, who were holding a sit-in at his office, are being arrested. pic.twitter.com/7VVFehp2qQ

— Douglas Soule (@DouglasSoule) May 3, 2023

The protesters say that DeSantis’ policies target historically marginalized communities and “attack who they are, who they love and how and what they learn.” They don’t just want to garner publicity with their demands to meet with DeSantis. They want to create urgency and a national movement to push back on red state governors and legislatures passing bills that conservatives believe protect children and families.

Florida’s legislative session ends Friday. That means that DeSantis’ announcement to run for president is coming soon. Look for more of these actions to happen as he enters the presidential primary race. They didn’t garner this kind of publicity during his first term as governor. Now he is on the national stage and those protesting his policies (and him) enjoy greater coverage. It’s fundraising gold for the non-profits.