Protesters compare Lakewood Schools’ mask policy to child abuse, communist oppression

LAKEWOOD, Ohio (WOIO) - While speakers took the podium at the Lakewood Board of Education meeting, many to blast the district’s policy to mandate masks for students, teachers, and staff, protesters staged their own event outside the meeting.

The protesters waved the U.S. flag and held signs that read “Masks on Children = Child Abuse” and “Communist Oppression Via Indefinite Despotism.”

Damon Appel helped organize the outdoor protest. He says he’s registered with the state of Ohio as a minister in the Church of the Exempted.

“That’s why those people are in there. They’re out there speaking for freedom for the rights of our children,” Appel told 19 News. “Because our children need advocates to fight for their liberty.”

School board president Betsy Bergen Shaughnessy had said earlier that many of the protesters are not from Lakewood and wanted to forward a different, political agenda.

The last school board meeting ended when speakers at the podium refused to put on masks and the board walked out.

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