Americans in Florida held a "Million Maskless March" in protest of "tyranny and oppression on people," according to a report.
WND said around five hundred people in Florida's Las Olas Beach gathered in protest of the mask mandate that is a "symbol of tyranny and oppression." The protesters called out to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis "to end" the restrictions he imposed across the state in line with the pandemic.
"We are now the majority and we are sending a very clear message that we're over this. We're over the masks. We are asking our governor, Gov. DeSantis, to end the state of emergency and end all mask mandates in the state of Florida. And God bless you," WND quoted the protesters in saying.
The Miami Herald posted footage of the event on their YouTube Channel. The video was actually taken by Daniel Valera in behalf of Miami Herald who interviewed several people in the event and asked the reasons they were there. The video showed the protesters carrying mostly the American flag among others such as that of former President Donald Trump's. One of those interviewed by Varela was Chris Nelson, the organizer of the Million Maskless March.
"We are done with it. We are saying, 'No more masks!' We are not going to take it anymore. It has become a symbol of tyranny and oppression on the people," Nelson said during the interview.
Varela also interviewed a certain Annie G. who said masks are "not helping anybody" because it is "killing more people than it's saving people." She said she joined the protest because whe wanted people "to hear the truth" that when you put those masks under a microscope after using them for the day you will "find all kind of germs that you don't want to inhale" on them.
Protesters also showed contempt against President Joe Biden for imposing mask mandates and also showed opposition against the vaccine passports. WND also highlighted in its report the various messages shown on t-shirts and signages carried by the protesters such as "stop government interference," "masks are slavery," "fear is being used to control you," "freedom over fear," "unmask your freedom," and "COVID-19 is a scam," as well as, "defund the media."
The highlight of the video was the burning of the masks. It showed the various protesters removing their masks and dumping it on a container as they gathered around it. The masks in the container was lighted up with fire.
While the Miami Herald and the Sun Sentinel did not write a news story on the event, the Herald uploaded a photo gallery on the event besides the video taken by Varela.
NBC Miami did report on the protest, however, and said that those gathered do not believe in what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say on the mask's benefit in lowering a person's infection from the virus.
While Newsweek reported last March that a Million Maskless March will be held alongside the first year anniversary of "tyranny in Broward County." The event is said to be organized by the Libertarian Party of Broward County, UnMasking America, and ReOpen South Florida. The announcement of the said event was made at the same time DeSantis revealed plans against having a vaccine passport system in his state.
Update: Chris Nelson, the event organizer, reached out to us with a correction. He was previously incorrectly named by the Miami Herald as "Steve Hoffman," the same name used in an earlier version of this report. We have updated the report to include accurate information. We apologize for any misunderstanding this error might have caused.
