Freezing funding? Why not arrest them?
“Why not arrest them?”
There are so many issues it’s probably not clear whether what the city is doing is an arrestable offense. A civic leader sets a policy at odds with the law. Do you arrest him or the people charged with enforcing the policy? And when you do arrest them, what is the expected outcome? What are the potential legal penalties? A fine, which would be paid from the city coffers? A prison term? What a political mess that would be. And doing that risks making the person arrested a well-known celebrity and political force. Arguably, it was Hitler’s arrest, trial and imprisonment that greatly increased the public’s awareness of him and made him a sympathetic character. Opps!