The Republican governor introduced the new law during a Monday press conference – the Combating Violence, Disorder, and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act – which, if passed by the state legislature, would make participation in “disorderly assemblies” a third-degree felony, among other measures.

“Our right to peacefully assemble is one of our most cherished as Americans, but throughout the country we’ve seen that right being taken advantage of by professional agitators, bent on sowing disorder and causing mayhem in our cities,” DeSantis said in a statement.

I will not allow this kind of violence to occur here in Florida.

The law would mandate minimum six-month sentences for anyone found guilty of striking a police officer – “including with a projectile” – during a violent protest, and upgrade offenses such as blocking roadways, public harassment and destruction of monuments to felonies. It defines “disorderly assemblies” as “when 7 or more persons are involved in an assembly and cause damage to property or injury to other persons.”

Among its more controversial provisions, the legislation will also pull state resources from cities and counties that vote to defund their police departments, and establish legal protections for motorists if they accidentally hit somebody while escaping protesters’ wrath:

Driver is NOT liable for injury or death caused if fleeing for safety from a mob.

Though DeSantis argued the law would act as a strong deterrent against rioting and violence amid months of chaotic protests against police brutality, his Democrat detractors denounced it as a “fascist” crackdown on Americans’ right to protest and assemble. Some insisted it would empower police to declare all future demonstrations “violent” to shut them down by force.