A backlash against Michigan’s lockdown erupted in a noisy demonstration aimed at Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday — but those protesters are not alone.
Cooped up residents and shuttered businesses in Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Utah, North Carolina and Pennsylvania all have chaffed at the lockdown triggered by a deadly coronavirus pandemic, USA Today reported.
On Thursday, a protest took place in Richmond, Va., organized by a group known as "ReOpen Virginia, End The Lockdown VA and Virginians Against Excessive Quarantine.”
The pushback came after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced on Wednesday he was extending the end-date of Virgina's business closures by two weeks, until May 8, USA Today reported — while the stay-at-home order remains in effect until June 10.
In Kentucky on Wednesday, about 100 protesters demanded Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear reopen Kentucky, disrupting his televised pandemic update by chanting, blowing horns and shouting into a megaphone outside the window of the briefing room.
In Ohio, protesters amassed at the Statehouse during GOP Gov. Mike Dewine’s appearance on Monday, at least one wearing a Donald Trump hat while many carried signs expressing displeasure at the stay-at-home order or waved American flags.
Additionally, a growing chorus of Ohio’s Republican lawmakers want DeWine to set a date for the first phase of re-opening businesses, schools and public places, the news outlet reported.
In Utah, protesters gathered Wednesday to protest the state's closures of businesses and facilities at the Washington County administration building as people marched around the block holding signs urging Gov. Gary Herbert to re-open non-essential businesses.
"My daughter is out of work, my husband's work has slowed down and I'm out of work because of this," Deborah Palmer, a St. George resident who owns a small business, told USA Today.
On Tuesday, police in North Carolina arrested a protester after more than 100 people showed up in downtown Raleigh to protest Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order, while in Pennsylvania, protests are reportedly planned for Monday in front of the state Capitol building in Harrisburg.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced the stay-at-home order will be in place until April 30. The groups protesting are against lockdown restrictions being extended beyond May 1, USA Today reported.
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