Suburban New York county bans wearing of masks to hide identity

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Lawmakers in a suburban New York county have approved a bill to ban masks in public places with exemptions for people who cover their faces for health reasons or religious or cultural purposes.

Supporters said the bill approved Monday by the Republican-controlled Nassau County Legislature on Long Island would prevent violent protesters from hiding their identity.

Legislator Howard Kopel said the measure was introduced in response to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Oct. 7 start of the latest Israel-Hamas war.

All 12 Republicans in the legislature voted in favor of the measure, while the body’s seven Democrats abstained.

The county lawmakers acted after New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said in June that she was considering a ban on face masks in the New York City subway system. No specific plan has been announced to enact such a ban, which like the Nassau measure was floated in response to the rise in mask-wearing protesters.

The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the Nassau mask ban as an infringement on free speech rights.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-parsely-url=«https%3A%2F%2Fapi.parsely.com%2Fv2%2Frelated%3Fapikey%3Dapnews.com%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fmask-ban-long-island-new-york-7891145ee73aa894200b8360ba65ee4d%26limit%3D9%26respect_empty_results%3D1%26sort%3D_score%26pub_date_start%3D2024-06-22%26exclude%3Dsection%3APress%20Releases%26exclude%3Dtags%3ACelebrity%20Birthdays» data-parsely-title=«Related Stories» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE