Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s administration has stopped the group Dream Defenders who are occupying the Capitol from receiving food deliveries this weekend. Dream Defenders has been holed up in the Capitol building for thirteen days demanding reforms that they call “Trayvon’s Law,” such as a reversal of Stand Your Ground laws and and an end to police profiling.
On Friday at 5 p.m., the doors were locked and while protesters were free to leave, nobody was allowed to reenter the building until Monday morning. Last weekend, the air conditioning was cut, as is normal on the weekend, but protesters were able to get food brought in.
This weekend, the group had its biggest crowd so far, including protesters that came by bus from places as far away as Philadelphia and Baltimore. Some of those protestors left as scheduled, leaving about 50 Dream Defenders protestors camped out in the Capitol.
At about 3:30pm on Saturday, a woman came trying to deliver food but was turned away by guards at the door. The protesters were given no advance warning that food would not be allowed to come in. Dream Defenders immediately began sending out tweets notifying the public of what had happened and asking them to call the head of security for the building.
The group issued a statement, which reads in part:
“When we were unable to access food, people were concerned about whether supplies would last through the weekend. But, we know why we are here, and we haven’t lost sight of our goals.” said Director Phillip Agnew. “Sooner or later the Governor will realize we’re serious and we’re here to stay no matter how much he tries to scare us away.”
Capitol police have become growingly antagonistic towards the Dream Defenders this past week, despite numerous attempts by the group to keep relations amicable. However, no matter how uncomfortable the conditions imposed upon the group, Dream Defenders maintain that they will not leave until the Governor convenes a special legislative session to consider Trayvon’s Law.
The only people allowed to enter the Capitol are legislators and staff. Democrat Alan Williams has been a consistent supporter of the group and has brought them food, but is out of town this weekend.
A Dream Defenders spokesman told Breitbart News that they have enough food to last until Sunday morning and believe that Rep. Williams will be back in town to help them on Sunday. He said nobody had left due to the embargo.
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