Florida has recently passed a bill about food distribution programs and due to this, a 90-year-old pastor conducting a food aid was arrested earlier this week.
The reports say that the arrest happened as tables and food were set-up at Fort Lauderdale, Florida near a park on Wednesday. The pastor was accompanied by two other pastors and pressed that this group has been giving food to the needy for the past years.
The bill has been passed on October 22 and it has specified that distribution programs should be more than 500 feet away from any residential properties and that there will only be one group allowed to share food to the homeless per block. Also, these groups should be able to provide portable toilets. There has already been an increase of 47 percent of homeless people in Florida since 2010.
The pastor was identified as Arnold Abbott and police officials pressed that he has violated the bill. Anyone found guilty of violating the ordinance is said to be jailed for up to 60 days and pay a fine of $500.
A video has then been uploaded on YouTube by a witness and it has showed how the two pastors were arrested just when they were starting to give away food. People who were waiting in line for the food started to boo the police officers and a lot of them shouted "Shame on you!"
Abbot was arrested once last Sunday and he did not resist the police when he was arrested. The food were confiscated by the police and asked the people who delivered the food to load it back to their vehicle.
Abbot runs this nonprofit organization called "Love Thy Neighbor" and according to reports, it has started when his wife died. The pastor pressed he intends to have another distribution of food by and is ready to get arrested again.
He said in a statement: "These are the poorest of the poor. They have nothing; they don't have a roof over their heads. I know I will be arrested again, I'm prepared for that. I am my brother's keeper, and what they are doing is just heartless. They are trying to sweep the poorest of the poor under the rug."
