DeSantis gives green light for drivers to hit protesters: 'You have a right'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave drivers the green light to strike protesters who take to the streets against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

The Republican governor and erstwhile GOP presidential candidate told conservative podcaster Dave Rubin that motorists would not be held liable under state law for hitting protesters blocking roadways when they're afraid for their own lives, reported The Daily Beast.

“If you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety, and so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you,” DeSantis told "The Rubin Report." “You don’t have to sit there and just be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets.”

DeSantis signed a controversial bill promoted as an "anti-riot" measure that ended driver liability for hitting protesters and created new crimes, including aggravated rioting and mob intimidation, that makes it illegal for a group of three or more individuals to confront others and intimidate them into changing their views.

"You have a right to defend yourself in Florida," DeSantis said.

Protests have been spreading nationwide over the Trump administration's roundup of immigrants, some of whom have been deported without due process.