MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Suburban New York officials looking to stop violent protesters from obscuring their identities have banned wearing masks in public except for health or religious reasons.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, signed the legislation Wednesday, calling it a “bill that protects the public.” Nassau County is on Long Island just east of New York City. The county's Republican-controlled Legislature approved the ban on face coverings on Aug.
5. Legislator Howard Kopel said lawmakers were responding to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The law makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for anyone in Nassau to wear a face covering to hide their identity in public. It exempts people who wear masks "for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn.” Blakeman said that while mask-wearing campus protesters were the impetus for the ban, he sees the new law as a tool to fight everyday crime as well.
“This is a broad public safety measure,” Blakeman said at a news conference. “What we've seen is people using masks to shoplift, to carjack, to rob banks, and this is activity we want to stop.” Advocates for people with disabilities called on Blakeman to hold off implementing the law, arguing.