Florida Democratic Party Statement on Health Care Protests

Eric Jotkoff of the Florida Democratic Party released a statement on last night's violent protest against the Kathy Castor health care townhall meeting.

Enough is enough! First Florida Republicans used riots to stop the recount and make George W. Bush President. Now they're trying to use the Republican mob rule tactics to stop efforts to reform our broken health insurance system and obstruct President Obama’s efforts to bring change to Washington. That’s why tonight we are saying, ‘Enough is enough!’

Not only do Florida’s Republican leaders such as Gov. Charlie Crist, AG Bill McCollum, and Rep. Bill Young need to immediately denounce their party’s tactics, but they also need to apologize for the violence that was witnessed today in Tampa. If they don't they will be equally as guiltily as the protesters starting these fights.

Two reported fist fights broke out at the event. Police were called in to maintain order. Many tea party protesters banged on windows and doors. The protesters failed to realize fire marshall rules will not let a venue by seated beyond capacity.

The event organizers left a door open. The idea was that people who could not get seats could hear Castor speak. At 1:40 in the video, a woman warns the protesters to either stop shouting down Castor or they would close the door. Notice the edit at the 2:06 mark. What is not shown is a man in a green shirt obstructing the organizers. The video only shows organizers pushing the man away from the door. The man resisted and had his shirt ripped. A police officer can be seen keeping another man away from the door. The second man has a more severely ripped shirt.



A vlogger confirms organizers had to remove a man from the doorway to close the doors. Check the video. Notice the tea baggers banging on the doors. How civil of them.