Los Angeles, California - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has announced that city officials are looking into whether they can bar people from wearing face masks at protests.

Bass said she has directed the city attorney to provide guidance "around what are the parameters with protests: when permits are needed, whether or not people should be masked, and establishing clear lines of demarcation between what is legal and what is not."

The Democratic mayor revealed the news at a press conference on Monday at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Standing behind her was Adam King, a rightwing conspiracy theorist of InfoWars infamy.

Bass' move came after a pro-Palestine protest outside an LA synagogue was widely condemned by the prominent politicians. The synagogue had hosted an event advertising real estate in "all the best Anglo neighborhoods in Israel" – sparking outrage amid decades of illegal occupation of the West Bank and a recent increase in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians. Pro-Israel counter-protesters were also accused of attacking journalists on the scene.

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The possible mask ban has stoked fears of retaliation against Palestine solidarity protesters, as well as of increased Covid-19 infections, especially among vulnerable people.

Covid continues to pose a threat to people in Los Angeles county, where 406 people have lost their lives due to infection so far this year.

Bass is not the first politician to mull such a policy. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has also suggested a similar mask ban on NYC subways.

Israel has killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza since October. Millions more forcibly displaced people are facing growing threats of disease and starvation, while the US continues to supply weapons for the assault.