Concord, United States,
Hundreds of people in different cities of the United States took to the streets to protest against the measures of confinement in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, encouraged by President Donald Trump in a context of growing disagreement against these restrictions.
The largest of these demonstrations so far took place in Lansing, Michigan, where some 3,000 people expressed their discontent with the confinement ordered by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
In Concord, the state capital of New HampshireAbout 400 people gathered in the rain to ask that the quarantine not be extended in a state where COVID-19 cases are relatively few, an AFP photographer found.
A similar mobilization was recorded outside the government house of Maryland, in Annapolis, in which about 200 people participated. On the other hand, in Austin, Texas, Some 250 people protested against the obligation to stay at home, while protests of the same tenor spread in other cities of the country.
In some states with Democratic governments, the protests were encouraged by President Trump through his Twitter account.
Trump has said he supports a quick return to normal life.
However, there have also been mobilizations with claims against domestic isolation in republican government states, such as New Hampshire (northeast), with 1.3 million inhabitants, where confinement is in force until May 4.
The protesters, including several flapping United States flags, call for the early lifting of the measure.
Men with their faces covered and carrying weapons could be seen among those protesting, an AFP journalist found.
“People are very happy to do what is necessary voluntarily,” Skip Murphy, one of the protesters, a 63-year-old software developer, told AFP in a phone interview.
FURTHER: New York records 540 deaths in the last 24 hours.
However, according to Murphy, “the data does not support” the closure that was imposed in New Hampshire. Until Friday morning, in that state it had 1,287 infections and 37 deaths from coronavirus.
“What about our constitutional rights?” Asks Murphy.
– Encouraged by Trump –
A recent survey of the Pew Research Center He indicated that most Americans, by a two-to-one margin, are concerned that mobility restrictions are lifted prematurely.
But Trump’s tweets Friday, in which he called for “RELEASE” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, all states with Democratic governors, from confinement orders.
The Republican millionaire has repeated slogans with this message on several occasions, calling for an early return to normal activity due to the devastating effect that the measures to contain the pandemic have had on workers and companies.
However, health authorities have warned that an early softening of the measures It could promote the resurgence of the virus and cause a health disaster.
For Murphy, the New Hampshire protester, the protests go beyond parties. “This has nothing to do with Trump or the Democratic or Republican governors,” he said.
“It is a case in which the same size does not fit everyone. The confinement should end where it does not make sense.”
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