The Republican-led Arizona state Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would permit the government to seize protesters’ assets and prosecute them under a racketeering law designed to target organized crime. If the measure passes in the GOP-controlled state House and is signed into law, protesting in Arizona would be on par with terrorism. There’s no evidence of any paid protest movement. The legislation is written in a way that would allow protesters to be charged ― even if they don’t do anything. As the Arizona Capitol Times reports, racketeering laws permit police to arrest people for planning to commit a crime ― before anything has actually happened.

Source: Huffington Post February 24, 2017 01:05 UTC