Council meeting in Florida about masks goes viral over conspiracy theories

A council meeting in Florida discussing a proposed law around mandatory face mask use has gone viral after it was hijacked by residents and their conspiracy theories.

The wild public meeting sought to require West Palm Beach residents in Florida to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Instead it was taken over by residents complaining it was a "Devil's law" that will "kill people" and invite the wrath of God since it prevents one "breathing in oxygen", among other things.

The law eventually passed, but not before the council and councillors were called a "communist dictatorship" that is "brainwashing" people about a "planned-demic".

One woman in a red blouse vowed that 'We the People' will 'work day and night' to unseat the commissioners.

And the nuttiness didn't stop there.

"We will get together and do a citizen's arrest on every single human being that goes against the freedom of choice, OK?" she said.

"You cannot mandate… knowing that the mask is killing people... We the people are waking up and we know what a citizen's arrest is.

"Because citizen's arrests are already happening and every single one of you that's obeying the devil's laws are going to be arrested.

"And you are going to be arrested for crimes against humanity."

She then threatened to bring down the wrath of God on the commissioners.

"Every single one of you has a smirk behind that little mask, but every single one of you are going to get punished by God," she said.

"You cannot escape God. You cannot escape God. I'm going to say that again.

"You cannot escape God."

She then ticked off a series of conspiracy theories that have been circulating online, including one that claims 5G wireless technology causes the coronavirus.

"Not even with a mask or 6 feet. OK, 6 feet is military protocol," she said.

"You're trying to get the people to train them so when the cameras, the 5G come out, when they're going to scan everybody.

"We got to get scanned, we got to get temperatured, the kids have to go to school with masks."

She then said: "Are you insane? Are you crazy?

"I think all of you should be in a psych ward right the heck now.

"Because none of you, none of you know what the hell you are talking about. This is insane.

"And then you want to open the meeting with a prayer to God.

"Are you praying to the Devil? Because God is not listening to that prayer.

"Because all of you are practicing the Devil's love."

She then invoked another conspiracy theory which holds that Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and multibillionaire, engineered the pandemic so that he can implant a chip into people's bodies when they are eventually vaccinated.

"What happened to Bill Gates? Why is he not in jail? Why is Hillary Clinton not in jail?" she asked.

"Why are all these paedophiles that are demanding you all to listen to their rules, why are they not in jail?

"Oh, is it because you're part of them?... The deep state is going down and if any of you are in the deep state, you're going down with it."

Another woman said the mask order interferes with human breathing.

"I'd like to say, in the beginning God formed man out of the earth and breathed his breath in him and he became a living soul," she said.

"Where do you derive the authority to regulate human breathing?"

She then questioned the credentials of Alina Alonso, the director of the Palm Beach County Department of Health.

"I have many questions about your degrees and what you really know, because what you say is the political dogma that they're trying to shove down our throats on every commercial and every store, and it's disgusting," she told Alonso.

"And I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't think you are worthy of your credentials and I would ask suggestively that you go back to school and get educated."

According to the county, Alonso received a bachelor of science from Barry University in 1978, where she majored in biology and minored in chemistry and mathematics.

In 1984, she graduated from the foreign medical school of Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

She then served as chief resident at St. Joseph Medical Center in New York.

The woman continued: "It is appalling that each and every one of you sitting up there as human beings, part of the human race, the only race that we have, would suggest to muffle people, to put masks on your face to keep us from breathing oxygen, to get us to become sickly."

She then added: "There's not enough [COVID-19] to make it a pandemic. This is a planned-demic."

Another woman who identified herself as Reba Sherrill, a candidate for Congress, compared the mask rule to Jews who suffered under Nazi Germany.

"If masks work for you, or if you think they do, wear one," she said.

"Don't impose your opinion on those who disagree. Each one can chose whether they will wear one or not.

"Each one lives with the consequence."

She then went on: "Discriminating against certain groups of people while exempting others is a violation of your civil rights.

"Following World War II, we Jews said 'Never Again'.… In Germany, Poland, and across Europe we were forced to wear a gold star, told to get on a box car to be taken to a safe place.

"In reality, what happened? If we forget history, we are doomed to repeat it."

She concluded by saying: "This is not about health, this is about submission."

Another woman said: "I don't wear a mask for the same reason I don't wear underwear.

"Things got to breathe."

The council meeting proved so popular on social media it was given the Parks and Recreation treatment - featuring footage from the West Palm Beach meeting spliced with segments from the TV show.

The county commissioners approved the measure by a unanimous 7-0 vote.