Rep. Park Cannon.Photo: TNS via ZUMA Wire
Video of Rep. Park Cannon’s unusual arrest quickly went viral on social media, where it has been seen millions of times.
According toThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cannon wanted Gov. Brian Kemp to speak from outside his closed-door office about the bill he was signing into law. He was instead giving live-streamed remarks.
“She knew he was signing a bill that would affect all Georgians — why would he hide behind closed doors? This isn’t a monarchy,” an activist who was with Cannon told the paper. “You have a women of color fighting for the rights of Georgians and they arrested her for knocking on the door because she wanted to witness our governor sign the bill.”
Footage of Cannon’s arrest showed two state troopers detaining and then forcibly removing her from the statehouse as others repeatedly called out: “Why are you arresting her?”
Under the state’s constitution, lawmakers are protected from arrest while in session unless they have committed treason, a felony or breach of the peace.
A spokesperson for the Georgia State Patrol tells PEOPLE that Cannon, who represents portions of the Atlanta area, was charged with obstruction of law enforcement and disrupting a General Assembly session.
Jail records show this is Cannon’s third alleged offense for disruption, which qualifies as a felony — thus allowing her to be arrested.
However, jail records show no prior arrest for Cannon for allegedly disrupting the General Assembly.
Cannon, a 29-year-old Democratic state representative, was held at the county jail for several hours before she was released to a cheering crowd of supporters outside.
“I am not the first Georgian to be arrested for fighting voter suppression. I’d love to say I’m the last, but we know that isn’t true,” she wrote on Twitter later Thursday.
“We will not live in fear and we will not be controlled,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet, referring to Kemp’s signing of the Republican-backed bill, which has become a national political flashpoint.
On Twitter, Cannon vowed that Georgians “will come together and continue fighting white supremacy in all its forms.”
The lawmakerjoined previous protestsagainst the new voting legislation, including an incident in February in which a state trooper grabbed her arm and physically moved her inside the Capitol.
Rep. Park Cannon.TNS via ZUMA Wire
Rep. Park Cannon.Nathan Posner/Shutterstock
Kemp, 57, on Thursday quickly signed the sweeping new elections bill after it passed the Republican-led state House and Senate earlier in the day.
The most notorious provision criminalizes giving food and water to voters in line. (Polling places can still set up self-serve water stations.)
Other controversial changes — such as ending the state’s automatic voter registration and no-excuse absentee balloting — were dropped from the final text after significant opposition.
A push to limit early voting hours was also eventually reversed following criticism and many municipalities will actually seeincreased early votinghours.
The nearly 100-page legislation includes a raft of other changes to how elections will be conducted in Georgia. Local officials have praised some of these reforms while worrying about the cost and complexity of others,according to GPB.
Conservatives in the state pushed for the new changes following former PresidentDonald Trump’s continuous lies about why he lost to PresidentJoe Biden. Georgia’s elections officials, including top Republicans, repeatedly said there was no widespread fraud or problems with the state’s elections.
Biden was the first Democrat to win statewide in Georgia in decades. Two months later, Democrats narrowly won both Senate runoff elections.
Kemp, who had faced Trump’s ire for not endorsing his earlier attacks on the election, insisted Thursday that the new law was not politically motivated despite passing on a party-line vote.
“Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible and fair,” he said in the remarks from his office, with Rep. Cannon outside. “Ensuring the integrity of the ballot box isn’t partisan. It’s about protecting the very foundation of who we are as Georgians and Americans.”
The legislation has gained widespread attention — and widespread criticism from voting rights activists, including Stacey Abrams.
Atlanta attorney Gerald Griggs and Sen. Raphael Warnockspoke to reportersoutside the Fulton County Jail after Cannon was released.
Griggs said Cannon, who is 5-foot-2 and 115 lbs., had bruises from the incident and the arrest was “very traumatic” for her.
Warnock, a well-known Atlanta pastor who was elected in the January runoffs, said he’s known Cannon for years and that she is one of his parishioners.
“She is an outstanding public servant,” he said, adding that “today is a very sad day for the state of Georgia.”
“What we have witnessed today was a desperate attempt to lock out and squeeze the people out of their own democracy,” Warnock said.
He continued: “I want to know what makes her actions so dangerous and the actions of those who were trying to undermine an actual election so benign in the minds of some politicians.”
source: people.com
