US faced with protests amid pressure to reopen
Protesters have taken to the streets in states across the US, demanding that governors reopen economies shut by the coronavirus pandemic.
Rallies in Arizona, Colorado, Montana and Washington state were expected on Sunday, following earlier protests in half a dozen states.
Agitation for easing restrictions is continuing to grow, despite the threat of a Covid-19 resurgence posed by reopening too early.
US President Donald Trump has signalled support for the protests.
The US may be the epicentre of the Covid-19 crisis, with over 735,000 cases plus some 40,000 deaths - but signs have emerged that it's achieving the apex of the outbreak and that infection rates are slowing in some states.
Governors in several states have begun discussions to plan reopening amid signs of the slowdown, but other regions remain under strict lockdown.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was the first in the nation to issue a state-wide stay home order, shuttering the country's most populous state since 19 March. Neighbouring west coast states Washington and Oregon followed suit days later, putting their combined 11.5 million residents under a stay in the home order since 23 March.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week that the state would extend its stay home measures until 15 May. Speaking at his daily virus briefing on Sunday, Mr Cuomo urged caution to residents, beset with "cabin fever" and in need of their state to reopen.
"We still have to make certain we keep that beast under control," Mr Cuomo said. "As most of us get very wanting to can get on with life and move on."
"This is merely halftime in this entire situation."
Mr Trump, a Republican, seemed to endorse protests against strict lockdown measures, saying on Friday that orders set up in Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia were "too tough".
The measures are had a need to curb the spread of the virus.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee called the president's support of the protesters "dangerous", tantamount to encouraging "insubordination" to convey laws.
"To have an American president to encourage people to violate regulations, I can't remember any moment in my amount of time in America we've seen such a thing," he said on ABC news on Sunday.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the home, accused Mr Trump of endorsing the protests as a "distraction".
"The president's embrace of it as a distraction from the actual fact that he hasn't appropriately done testing, treatment, contact tracing and quarantine," she told ABC.
So-called "Operation Gridlock" protests backed by libertarian leaning groups were likely to attract as much as several hundred people to the state capitols in Denver, Colorado and Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday.
In Denver, protesters had descended upon the state capitol to demonstrate against the state's social distancing orders. A large number of cars circled the capitol, local media report, while roughly 200 persons assembled on the lawn, brandishing signs and flags.
On Saturday, protesters gridlocked the streets of Annapolis, Maryland, honking car horns in protest of lockdown measures. A lot more than 200 people rallied outside the residence of the Indiana governor, while about 200 gathered in Austin, Texas.
Utah, Washington state and NY state also saw disruptions on Saturday.
Further protests are anticipated on Monday.
