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Owners protested bar closures at State Capitol
On June 30, bar owners who are suing Gov. Greg Abbott for closing down bars in Texas for the second time, held protests at the State Capitol, proclaiming that “bar lives matter.”
Here’s the latest on the escalating protests in Texas…
On June 24 Governor Greg Abbott responded to rising COVID-19 infection numbers by ordering Texas bars to close yet again. Under current restrictions, “outdoor gatherings of more than 100 people would also need approval from local officials.”
Prior to Abbott’s announcement lockdown restrictions in Texas were being eased. And the governor was very specific about his decision noting that the rise in COVID-19 cases was being driven by people heading to bars in large numbers.
“It is clear that the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars,” Abbott said.
But the re-imposed restrictions didn’t sit well with almost 30 Texas bar-owners and private citizens who filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court on June 29 challenging Abbott’s emergency order.
The lawsuit was filed by Jared Woodfill, a Houston lawyer who was behind similar legal challenges to Abbott’s previous shutdown orders during the pandemic.
“Gov. Abbott continues to act like a king, refusing to convene the Legislature to address his unconstitutional orders,” Woodfill told the Statesman. “Abbott is unilaterally destroying our economy and trampling our constitutional rights.”
“This one individual is picking and choosing winners and losers,” Woodfill, argued on CBS Austin “Gov. Abbott has chosen to sentence bar owners to bankruptcy.”
HAPPENING NOW: The “Texas Bars Fight Back” protest is happening outside the Texas Capitol to protest the closing the bars statewide. pic.twitter.com/NPLen0fFmF
— Kacey Bowen (@KaceyonFox7) June 30, 2020
On June 30 Tee Allen Parker, owner of The Machine Shed Bar & Grill in East Texas, and lead plaintiff in the suit against Governor Abbott, led a “Bar Lives Matter” protest on the state’s capital grounds.
“You can’t tell me that my tiny little bar is the problem. He’s the problem,” Parker, one of multiple Texas bar owners who have banned the wearing of masks in their establishments, said of Abbott in an interview with The Washington Post. “He’s targeting us, and it’s discrimination.”
“Texas has seen a record number of cases since the state’s reopening earlier this year,’ reports the New York Post. “The state currently has 160,000 confirmed cases and 2,424 deaths from COVID-19.”
