JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville community activist Ben Frazier plans to attend Tuesday night’s city council meeting despite the risk of being arrested again.
Frazier is facing misdemeanor trespassing and resisting arrest charges after refusing to leave the podium during a city council meeting in December.
Frazier, 72, the president of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, said he is going to continue his advocacy to have all confederate monuments in Jacksonville removed during Tuesday night’s meeting. He is calling for members of the Northside Coalition and other community activists to support him as he takes this stance.
“Our plan is to exercise our constitutional rights to express how we feel about confederate monuments on public property,” Frazier said. “We think they should be removed. We call this the Stop the Mess rally. Stop the mess. Let’s make progress.”
Ben Frazier’s court hearing for the December arrest during city council has been pushed back four weeks. It was originally scheduled for 9 a.m. on Monday.
Frazier and his attorney John Phillips are calling it a denial of justice.
“We’ve just, we’ve just gotta get, we’ve gotta get this, get this thing rolling because, you know, every day that he’s, he’s a defendant in a criminal case, is an unjust, inappropriate day in Jacksonville,” Phillips said.
Frazier was arrested and released from jail with no bond the day after last month’s city council meeting.
Tuesday’s city council meeting starts at 5 p.m.
News4JAX will have a crew there and will have updates on-air and online.