COLUMBUS, Ohio — Attorney General Dave Yost is pointing to a 1953 law that could lead to harsher punishment for some pro-Palestinian protesters who are arrested.

What You Need To Know

  • The 1953 anti-masking law was originally created to address violence from the KKK

  • If found guilty of breaking the law it could result in a felony charge

  • Currently, the pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at OSU are only facing a misdemeanor

Yost wrote a letter to university presidents stating that protesters that were wearing a mask during the incident may have committed a felony crime.

The Prohibition Against Conspiracy While Wearing a Disguise law was originally designed to address and stop the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. It states that no person shall unite with two or more others to commit a misdemeanor while wearing white caps, masks or other disguise. The penalties for breaking this law are fourth degree felony charges, up to $5,000 in fines and five years on community control. 

It’s not new that protesters use masks or facial coverings while organizing. Many of them wore masks during the protests in 2020 and during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. At the time, CDC guidance to “mask-up” pushed legislators to amend, overturn, or overlook anti-masking laws.

Spectrum News legal analyst Rory Riley-Topping said that legislators are now looking at it as a way to punish those who they feel have broken the law. 

“Protests have been so big and have taken up so much of the national dialogue, there are people who are trying to figure out how to deal with them and when, in their opinion, these protests have crossed the line,” said Riley-Topping. “Regarding the protected first amendment, conduct outside of that, they want to be able to identify who those protesters are, and hold them accountable and masks are something that impedes their ability to do so.”

Facial coverings have become increasingly popular during protests as a way to remain anonymous in a time when facial recognition software is pretty advanced. Not all students wore facial coverings during the protests. Currently, those arrested still only face the criminal trespassing misdemeanor charge and all cases have been continued until June 14.