A west suburban lawmaker has proposed a change to Illinois law following Monday’s protest that caused major disruptions near O’Hare International Airport, snarling traffic and forcing some travelers to miss their flights.
Days after the demonstration that prompted some travelers to exit their vehicles and lug their baggage to the terminal, State Rep. Dan Ugaste, a Republican from St. Charles, authored a measure that may impact similar protests.
“My concern was that people’s lives are at stake here,” he said in an interview with NBC Chicago.
Outbound lanes near a terminal at O’Hare International Airport were blocked Monday morning on the Kennedy Expressway due to a protest, Total Traffic says.
Ugaste has urged fellow legislators to pass a bill that would make it a felony for protesters to block first responders from accessing roadways during a protest. The west suburban lawmaker explained he proposed the legislation after seeing an ambulance had been slowed by a protest that blocked a street.
“What if they were in need to get to a call…to help someone, they couldn’t get through, and we just can’t have that,” the lawmaker said. “We have to be able to get our first responders where they need to go to protect the public.”
Hatem Abudayyeh, who helped organize numerous Chicago-area protests involving pro-Palestinians who opposed the war in Gaza, called the proposal a “pretty ridiculous overreaction.”
It also unfairly challenges protestors’ first amendment rights, she stated.
“We as Palestinians in the United States, and as a movement for Palestinian rights, you know, have to escalate our protests,” said Abudayyeh, of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network. “We really have, we really have no choice in the matter, because the powers that be seem not to be listening.”
Ugaste said he has called on others to support the proposed legislation and hopes it will become a reality in the next four weeks.
“You can apply for permits that will allow you to protest in places, and this does absolutely nothing other than say you can’t prevent a first responder from moving freely,” he said.