Hundreds protest against US virus rules
Hundreds protested Saturday in cities across America against coronavirus-related lockdowns -- with encouragement from President Donald Trump -- as resentment grows against the crippling monetary cost of confinement.
An estimated 400 people gathered under a cold rain in Concord, New Hampshire -- many by walking while others remained within their cars -- to send a note that extended quarantines weren't necessary in circumstances with relatively few confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The crowd included several armed men wearing military-style uniforms, with their faces covered.
In Texas, more than 250 people rallied outside the State Capitol in Austin, including far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, founder of the Infowars site, who rolled up in a tank-like truck.
"It is time to reopen Texas, it is time to let persons work, it's time to allow them to let voluntary interaction and common sense rule the day, not government force," said Justin Greiss, an activist with Young Americans for Liberty.
Stay-at-home mother Amira Abuzeid added: "I'm not really a doctor but I'm a smart one who can do math and it looks like by the end of the day, these numbers aren't that worrisome."
Few if any observed social distancing recommendations.
Demonstrators outside Maryland's colonial-era statehouse in Annapolis stayed within their cars but waved signs with messages like "Poverty kills too."
Dolores, a hairdresser, told AFP she is not qualified to receive unemployment because she actually is a business owner, not an employee.
"I have to save my business. I have to work to live. Otherwise I'll die," she said.
Other demonstrations occurred in the united states in cities such as Columbus, Ohio and NORTH PARK, California, plus the states of Indiana, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Few practiced social distancing but lots of the protesters waved American flags.
Protesters have drawn encouragement in certain Democratic-led states from tweets by Trump, who has said he favors an instant return to normal, though protests also have taken place in Republican-led states like New Hampshire and Texas.
The US has seen more coronavirus cases and deaths than any other country on earth -- with an increase of than 734,000 confirmed infections and 38,800 fatalities as of Saturday evening.
Almost all Americans are under lockdown orders restricting public movement and keeping all but essential businesses closed.
In Concord, demonstrators carried signs with slogans like "The numbers lie" and "Reopen New Hampshire."
Their common demand was that the stay-at-home order for the state of 1 1.3 million people be called off before its scheduled May 4 end date.
Others, amid a sea of American flags, chanted the state's Revolutionary War-era slogan, "Live Free or Die."
"People are very happy on a voluntary basis to do what's necessary," one demonstrator, 63-year-old Skip Murphy, told AFP by phone.
He added, however, that "the info will not support the egregious lockdown we are having in New Hampshire."
By early Friday, New Hampshire had reported 1,287 confirmed coronavirus cases and 37 deaths.
"From coast to coast, a lot of folks are saying, 'We will do our part, but concurrently, this is said to be a free of charge country,'" Murphy said.
"When that gets transgressed, people begin to say, 'Wait one minute, that is wrong.'"
Most Americans -- by a two-to-one margin -- actually worry about virus restrictions being lifted too early, not too late, a recently available Pew survey found.
But demonstrators found encouragement Friday from the president, who in a series of tweets called to "LIBERATE" Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia -- all states with Democratic governors -- from stay-at-home orders.
Trump has repeatedly needed the earliest possible return to normality as virus-related closings have had a crushing effect on American employees and businesses.
"I really think some of the governors have gotten carried away," Trump said at a White House news conference on Saturday.
He welcomed the reopening of some businesses in Texas and Vermont on Monday "while still requiring appropriate social distancing precautions."
The greatest protest against stay-at-home rules up to now took place Wednesday in the Michigan capital of Lansing, which drew some 3,000 people.
Murphy said he previously voted for Trump, but insisted his motives were not partisan. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is a Republican, he noted.
"This has nothing in connection with Trump or the Democratic and Republican governors," Murphy said.
"This is a case of one size not fitting all -- the lockdown should cease where it generally does not seem sensible." -- AFP
