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Local deputies head to UF to assist in security at Richard Spencer event

Posted at 5:45 PM, Oct 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-18 17:45:55-04

Hundreds of local law enforcement officers from the Bay area have responded as mutual aid to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. 

Richard Spencer, white nationalist and President of the National Policy Institute, is scheduled to speak at the University of Florida on Thursday, October 19 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. 

A spokesperson with Pinellas County Sheriff's Office tells us approximately 70 deputies will be in Gainesville as part of a larger response coordinated through the Florida Sheriff's Taskforce. 

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office also sent dozens of deputies along with police cruisers and a mobile command unit this morning. 

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The University of Florida will be spending $500,000 on security as Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency. 

There's a long list of items that will be prohibited from the event:

  • Weapons, firearms or simulated firearms, tasers, knives, sharp objects
  • Lighters, matches, torches, open flames
  • Any athletic equipment or other items which could be used as a weapon
  • Masks of any kind, goggles, bandanas/scarfs, neck gaiters
  • Flag poles, bats, clubs, sticks (including sticks on signs)
  • Aerosol/pressurized cans, mace
  • Chains, padlocks, bicycle locks
  • Shields
  • Fireworks
  • Backpacks, bags, purses, clutches
  • Signs made of anything other than cloth, paper, foam core, cardboard
  • Cans, metal or glass containers, premixed beverages or alcoholic beverages
  • No water bottles of any kind
  • Pop-up tents, canopies, hammocks
  • Wagons or pull carts
  • Coolers
  • Drones or unmanned aircraft systems
  • Pets (excluding ADA service animals)
  • Bicycles, scooters, skateboards
  • Tobacco products of any kind
  • Umbrellas 
  • Laser pointers
  • Water balloons
  • Megaphones or other amplified sound devices
  • Any other items that campus police determine pose a risk to safety or a disruption of classes 

Others fighting for justice from the Bay area plan to head to counter-protest the event -- this includes a group from Tampa's chapter of Black Lives Matter. 

Donna Davis plans to head to Gainesville Thursday morning, "I'm expecting to see a lot of good people who want peace in their communities showing up to stand on the side of right."