Protesters against stay-at-home orders gather outside Michigan Capitol [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Hundreds of people rally outside Michigan’s Capitol building to protest against extended stay-at-home rules.
• While the protest was generally peaceful, lawmakers criticized the group for some of its rifle-carrying members.
• Michigan governor says she was against mass gatherings fearing the spread of coronavirus, but noting that people are free to launch protests.

Despite heavy rain on Thursday, hundreds of people gathered to lambast Michigan’s coronavirus stay-at-home measures just outside the state Capitol, and protesters call for business reopening which challenges Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s orders.

The early part of the demonstration was not as big as the previous rallies, and the conservative activist group, Michigan United for Liberty headed the protest.

Michigan United for Liberty was the same group that arranged or joined several demonstrations since April and filed a suit against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“Don’t do what she says,” said Erica Pettinaro, the group’s co-founder said. “She doesn’t care about the Constitution of the United States of America.”

Demonstrators called for the resumption of work in Michigan, as well as the reopening of schools.

Generally, police authorities said the recent protests were peaceful; however, legislators from both parties commented that some activists came out as threatening by bringing assault firearms inside the Capitol, the Senate gallery included. Because of this, Democrats urged authorities to prohibit people from carrying guns inside the building.

While the Senate had arranged the Republican-led assembly session on Thursday, it did not push through, making the Capitol closed that day. Instead, a court will have a hearing on Friday and GOP representative’s charges against the governor’s authority in extending the restriction without consulting the legislators.

Meanwhile, both the attorney general and state police director of Michigan reminded the public that laws would be imposed at the rally, and protesters wielding their weapons or disobeying police instructions will be prosecuted.

The governor’s stay-at-home directive will run until May 28, and it advises the residents that wearing masks outside is no longer required. But people are obliged to maintain a distance of 6 feet from others who don’t live with them.

Several protesters disobeyed the social distancing measure during previous gatherings and didn’t have face coverings while inside the building, even screaming at security officers.

“I don’t particularly want to see people congregating, period. We know that contributes to spread,” the governor said Wednesday. “But if people are going to come down and demonstrate, do it in a responsible way. That’s what we ask.”

The governor emphasized that data modeling showed that her response was able to prevent at least 3,480 more casualties.

Recent reports indicated that there are over 4,700 people in Michigan that has died because of COVID-19 complications. That makes the state the fourth-most across the nation and the sixth-most based on per-capita.

Source: AOL