The protests of 2016, against pipelines and police shootings and a presidential candidate, have sparked lawmakers in eight states to consider bills boosting penalties for unlawful demonstrations. They include one that would protect drivers who “unintentionally” run over activists blocking roads and another aimed at forcing protesters to pay up to three times the costs of any damage they caused.
In Washington state, a lawmaker termed some protests “economic terrorism” and introduced a bill that would permit judges to tack on an additional year in jail to a sentence if the protester was “attempting to or causing an economic disruption.”
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