Palm Beach County residents express outrage over mask requirement: ‘Devil’s laws’

A Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners public comment session went viral Wednesday after residents denounced mandatory masking laws as “devil’s laws” that would “throw God’s wonderful breathing system out the door.”

One attendee, Sylvia Ball, said she was “very sad to see the authorities stomping on our constitutional rights,” adding, “They want to throw God’s wonderful breathing system out the door. You’re all turning your backs on it,” a local CBS affiliate reported.

Another attendee, Christina Gomez, vowed, “We will get together and do a citizen’s arrest on every single human being that goes against the freedom of choice” adding that masks “literally [are] killing people … and every one of you who are obeying the Devil’s law are going to be arrested for crimes against humanity.”

The comment session quickly went viral, with a number of users comparing the footage to a scene from the NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation.” 

People aren’t exaggerating. This really does look like one of those wacky citizen town hall montages out of “Parks and Rec”. Absolutely wild. pic.twitter.com/Rual4Nd1zX

— Charlotte Clymer ️‍ (@cmclymer) June 24, 2020

This is like the people who used to speak in Leslie Knope’s public forums on Parks and Rec. https://t.co/fs0JVNiSbQ

— Rob Ford says: Stay At Home, Save Lives (@robfordmancs) June 25, 2020

The board eventually approved the order, with County Mayor Dave Kerner (D) saying it will likely stay in place indefinitely and be enforced with civil citations and possible fines, according to an area CBS affiliate.

“We had hoped the public could self-police and heed the Mayor’s recommendations issued weeks ago but that isn’t happening,” Commissioner Melissa McKinlay said. “As a result, our numbers are increasing at a concerning rate.”

Florida is one of several states seeing large spikes in cases of the coronavirus, setting a new single-day record of 5,500 cases Wednesday. While several counties and cities, including Miami, have made masks mandatory, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has said he will not issue a statewide order.