SHUTDOWN UNREST: From CA To NY, Thousands Across Nation Turn Out For Lockdown Protests
Well over a month into coronavirus shutdown mode, unrest bubbled to the surface in states across the nation on Friday. From New York to California, thousands gathered in protest, demanding an end to draconian lockdown measures.
An estimated 500-plus protesters gathered in Huntington Beach, California on Friday, rejecting Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus measures, including his order to close all public beaches in Orange County.
“The city itself has also made it clear it will be fighting back against the governor’s order,” The Wrap reported Friday. “During an emergency meeting late on Thursday, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to seek an injunction against Newsom’s order.”
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Nearby, hundreds gathered in San Diego to protest the lockdown, too. There was a mixture of mask-wearing and non-mask-wearing protesters, holding signs like “Look Ma No Mask,” “All Jobs Are Essential,” and “Re-Open California”
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Some of the protests carried their signs on foot, others took a cue from Michigan’s “operation gridlock” protest earlier this month and used their vehicles to show their dissent of lockdown measures.
4/ we stayed on public property and marched across Union street. Here’s a look at the crowd as they passed me.
5/ A caravan of minivans and motorcycles circled the block for about 90 minutes. Horns blaring - the enthusiasm was awesome.
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Protests hit Chicago, as well: “A group of protesters gathered in Chicago’s loop Friday to call on Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, to come up with a plan to reopen the state’s economy,” Fox News reported Friday. “Several hundred gathered outside the Thompson Center, while counter-protesters drove by in their cars calling for the state to remain shut down.”
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Hundreds more gathered at the state’s Capitol in Springfield, holding “Freedom over fear,” “Fire Pritzker,” and “I don’t give a damn how you do it in Chicago” signs, Fox reported.
Hundreds protesting the stay-at-home order and calling on Illinois to reopen
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In New York, protests popped up in Albany, Rochester, Mineola, and Long Island, garnering hundreds of anti-lockdown supporters.
This is happening right now in Commack Long Island NY. people protest against the order to stay at home.
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An enormous protest has formed in Commack - hundreds of people demanding the NY economy open immediately. So many people without masks, many ignoring social distancing guidelines.
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Pretty good turnout in Mineola today to #ReopenNY . Lots of freedom loving people who just don’t want to lose their freedoms. God bless us all.
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A press release sent to The Daily Wire from the #ReStartROC demonstration said attendees set out to “protest the unconstitutional lockdown orders that are destroying our economy and causing untold damage to lives in the process.”
“While we take COVID19 seriously in Rochester, we believe that Albany has grossly overstepped their bounds with top-down, undemocratic mandates that are threatening the lives and livelihoods of our citizens. It is the responsibility of local government to uphold their first oaths to the Constitution and protect our natural rights to life, liberty and property,” said event organizer and local radio host Shannon Joy.
Gridlock in downtown #ROC as over a hundred cars show up to peaceful protest.#freedom#CaravanToCuomo #RestartNY#RestartROC#OpenNYS
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As noted by The Daily Wire, hundreds of protesters in Michigan, some armed, showed up to protest overreach by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday: “Amid a showdown between Michigan’s Democratic governor and its Republican-majority House of Representatives on Thursday — which saw Republicans vote to sue Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for unauthorized use of power and Whitmer issue executive orders extending the state’s emergency declaration until May 28 and her”stay-at-home” order until May 15 — hundreds of protesters, some of them armed, descended on Michigan’s Capitol building in Lansing, many entering.”
According to Fox News, May 1 protests also popped up in North Carolina and Delaware, among other places. Additionally, thousands “have said they will attend protests in Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Louisiana and Wisconsin over the weekend,” the report said.
