DETROIT: Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Michigan state’s governor’s house in Lansing on Thursday to protest Gretchen Whitmer’s request to extend the state of emergency to combat Covid-19, an appeal Republican lawmakers there have opposed.

The protest appeared to be the largest in the state since April 15, when supporters and allies of President Donald Trump organised thousands of people for “Operation Gridlock”, jamming the streets of Lansing with their cars to call out what they said was the overreach of Whitmer’s strict stay-at-home order.

That was one of the country’s first major anti-lockdown rallies, and helped sparked a wave of similar events nationwide.

The slow reopening of state economies around the country has taken on political overtones, as Republican politicians and individuals affiliated with Trump’s re-election promoted protests in electoral battleground states, such as Michigan.

Many people at Thursday’s protest, including militia group members carrying firearms and people with pro-Trump signs, appeared to be ignoring state social-distancing guidelines as they clustered together within 6 feet of each other. Few people wore masks.

“Governor Whitmer, and our state legislature, it’s over with. Open this state,” Mike Detmer, a Republican congressional candidate, told the crowd. “Let’s get businesses back open again. Let’s make sure there are jobs to go back to.”

Other speakers at the “American Patriot Rally” questioned the deadliness of Covid-19. They also said Whitmer’s stay-at-home order violated constitutional rights.

As the event began around 9 am under steady rainfall, some protesters chanted “USA” and “lock her up,” referring to Whitmer, a Democrat, but alluding to a refrain often chanted at 2016 Trump rallies directed at Hillary Clinton.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2020