(Amy Davis | Moapa Valley Progress) – For the third week in a row, a rally will be held beginning at 9 AM in the Sun Valley Plaza at 561 Mesquite Blvd. in Mesquite. This week’s rally, being called the “Freedom and Liberty Rally” is the third in a series of events coordinated by Mesquite City Councilwoman Annie Black. These Saturday morning events have been touted as peaceful protests against restrictions imposed on businesses by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Black has been critical of the restrictions saying that healthy people who wish to take a calculated risk, should be allowed to open their businesses or return to work.
But this week’s rally will be different. Last week, Black and Sun Valley Plaza property owner Jeff Hoyt received a Notice of Violation from the City of Mesquite office of Code Enforcement. The Notice said that the City had received complaints against these protest events because participants were allegedly violating the state-wide order against 10 or more people gathering while not observing social distancing protocols. The notice stated that this was in direct violation of the Governor’s order. The Notice also requested that Black voluntarily discontinue holding the protests until the governor’s orders are lifted.
In response, Black was insistent that this week’s rally would still be held. “Peaceful protests, in which citizens air grievances about their government, are not only protected by the Constitution – even in an “emergency” – but are an essential service to the public that are exempted from the governor’s order,” Black said.
Black added that the City of Mesquite had issued the notice in an attempt to intimidate her into canceling the protest. “This is an attempt to silence the people of Mesquite who wish to exercise their First Amendment Rights to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. We will not back down.”
Black recognized that there may be people who would prefer to comply with the code enforcement directive and not attend the rally, “I absolutely respect that,” she said. “That is part of their freedom as well.”
