Far-right extremists show up to NC health board meeting, pressure them to drop mask mandate

A far-right extremist group showed up to a meeting about New Hanover County's mask mandate Friday and pressured the county's health and human services board to end the mandate.

At the end of the meeting, the board did vote 8-4 to end the public mask mandate in the county. Deputies had to remove four people for going over their allotted time to speak publicly or for yelling at board members during discussion periods.

One man was arrested by deputies for second-degree trespassing and given a $2,500 unsecured bond on Friday. According to WECT News, he called out "this is assault," as he was being escorted out of the room. Several crowd members agreed with him, and shouted, "let him speak" or "he's exercising his constitutional right."

The Cape Fear chapter of the Proud Boys, an all-male group known to engage in political violence, spoke at the board meeting. The men who attended the meeting, clad in yellow and black, were not removed from the board meeting. One of the Proud Boys led the group in a pledge of allegiance in the middle of his time to speak.

The Proud Boys also showed up to a New Hanover County Board of Education meeting earlier this week.

The board members spent most of the meeting discussing the region's coronavirus metrics and debating how best to move forward.

"We made the decision that was in the best interest of the community, with the standards that we said that we would recommend to put in place in regards to having a strong communication campaign," said Leshonda Wallace, chair of the county's health and human services board.

She said restrictions could be re-examined if coronavirus cases begin to rise.

The mask mandate was lifted for only public spaces in New Hanover County, such as restaurant and grocery stores. Each businesses can still require face coverings if they choose.

The New Hanover County Board of Education is also set to vote on its mask mandate Monday.