CLAIM: UK-based The Guardian claims that, “Seven states have passed laws that ratchet up the penalties for activists protesting or even planning protests of oil and gas pipelines and other `critical infrastructure.’”
RATING
False
FACT CHECK
The Guardian is buying into extremists’ claims that state laws are aimed at their First Amendment right to protest through free speech and assembly. Nothing, however, in any of the laws infringe upon their rights to speech and assembly.
Instead, they are aimed at penalizing and curbing dangerous and illegal behavior that endanger workers, law-enforcement officials and the protesters themselves. That’s why the …