A few hundred people gathered outside Scottsdale City Hall on Wednesday to protest the mandate requiring face masks be worn in public.
At the protest, Scottsdale City Councilman Guy Phillips told the crowd that Arizona and the country is facing a pandemic — but it’s not COVID-19.
He says it’s the attack on their right to choose. Wearing a mask on stage to emphasize his point before taking it off, Phillips began to quote George Floyd: "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."
In a tweet, Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane said he hopes Phillips will apologize for using the phrase and called it “callous and insensitive.”
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Sen. Martha McSally also reacted on Twitter, both calling Phillips's comments "despicable."
Just flat out wrong. Despicable doesn’t go far enough. The final words of George Floyd should NEVER be invoked like this. Anyone who mocks the murder of a fellow human has no place in public office. Period. https://t.co/l0wyVE2BP4
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) June 25, 2020
Despicable. This is a serious moment in history and it's disgusting you are mocking the dying words of a murdered man. https://t.co/71YqW1KYmB
— Martha McSally (@MarthaMcSally) June 25, 2020
Last week, Gov. Ducey didn't issue a statewide mask requirement, but instead he passed it on to local governments. Many Arizona cities have adopted face covering requirements as has Maricopa County in an attempt to slow the virus spread. In Scottdale, masks are required in public places as of June 19.
There are more than 63,000 cases in the state and nearly 1,500 deaths as of Thursday.
