Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the Safe and Open Streets Act on Monday, aiming to federalize the offense of blocking public roads, as exclusively reported by Breitbart News.
The legislation comes in response to instances where protestors sympathetic to the Palestinian cause deliberately obstructed roads and highways across the nation.
Blackburn emphasized the lawlessness of blocking major roads in a written statement, asserting that such actions should not be tolerated.
Blackburn expressed concern over the danger posed by these protests, not only to the participants but also to citizens in need of emergency services or workers facing job repercussions due to delays. The senators specifically pointed to incidents where protestors disrupted traffic on the Durham Freeway in North Carolina and blocked airport access roads in New York City and Los Angeles.
The proposed Safe and Open Streets Act seeks to address this issue by imposing fines or up to five years of imprisonment on those found guilty of blocking public roads.
Tillis underscored the seriousness of the matter, describing the tactic of radical protestors as obnoxious, dangerous, and potentially lethal. He emphasized the need for a nationwide law to hold individuals accountable for endangering public safety through such disruptive actions.
