(The AEGIS Alliance) – On Wednesday night, a man who was part of a volunteer group distributing food to homeless people was given a ticket by the Houston police. The group, known as “Food Not Bombs,” had been distributing food to around 100 people outside Houston’s main public library when they were ordered by a police officer to stop and relocate to another area, Click 2 Houston reported.
However, the volunteers refused to leave and continued to distribute food, resulting in one man receiving a citation. The man will have to appear in court and could face a fine of up to $2,000.
The “Food Not Bombs” organization has been serving food from the same location for almost 20 years without any issues. However, the city recently implemented a new ordinance that only permits charitable food distribution at a designated location, which is located near a Houston Police Department building, KHOU 11 noted. The ordinance came into effect last Friday.
Civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen argued that the ordinance violates the group’s right to free speech and freedom of religion. Many members of the group have religious beliefs that encourage them to feed the hungry, and Kallinen believes that this ordinance infringes on that freedom. According to The Houston Chronicle, the group held a press conference earlier in the week to express their opposition to the new ordinance and has previously defied city rules.
They plan to continue serving food in their usual location outside the library.
Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
