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Dozens of protesters, some of them heavily armed, have occupied the capitol building of the US state of Michigan to demand an end to coronavirus stay-at-home orders.
Key points:
- Police let armed men into the capitol building after taking their temperatures
- The demonstrators demanded an end to stay-at-home rules and chanted: "Let us work"
- The protesters could be fined for violating social-distancing rules
Many at the so-called 'American Patriot Rally' ignored state social-distancing guidelines as they packed inside the state's capitol building and the area surrounding it on Thursday (local time).
Police let more than 100 protesters into the building. The demonstrators had their temperature taken by police, as a coronavirus precaution, as they entered.
Inside they sang the national anthem and chanted: "Let us work".
It appeared to be the largest of several protests in Michigan's capital, Lansing, after supporters of President Donald Trump last month organised thousands of people for 'Operation Gridlock' which jammed the streets with cars to call out what they said was the overreach of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's strict stay-at-home order.
Some speakers at Thursday's event questioned the deadliness of COVID-19, which has so far killed more than 63,000 people in the US.
"Governor Whitmer, and our state legislature, it's over with. Open this state," Republican US congressional candidate Mike Detmer told the crowd.
"Let's get businesses back open again. Let's make sure there are jobs to go back to."
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Protesters claim Ms Whitmer's stay-at-home order violates constitutional rights, and they urged people to open their businesses on May 1 in violation of the Governor's order.
Michigan authorities warned the protesters could be fined for violating social-distancing rules.
The slow reopening of state economies has taken on political overtones in the US as Republican politicians and people affiliated with Mr Trump's re-election promoting protests in electoral swing states like Michigan.
Thirty million Americans have now filed for unemployment benefits because of the crisis. Some states have started easing restrictions, even though the daily death toll from COVID-19 in the US has been more than 2,000 for the last three days.
ABC/Reuters
