Armed protesters demonstrate against Covid-19 lockdown at Michigan capitol

Hundreds of protesters, some armed, gathered inside Michigan’s state capitol on Thursday as state lawmakers debated the Democratic governor’s request to extend her emergency powers to combat coronavirus.

A tightly packed crowd of protesters, some carrying rifles, attempted to enter the floor of the legislative chamber, and were held back by a line of state police and capitol staff, according to video footage posted by local journalists.

One Democratic state lawmaker posted a photograph of men with rifles standing in a gallery yelling down at lawmakers below. “Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them,” the state senator Dayna Polehanki wrote on Twitter.

Thursday’s protest in Lansing, Michigan’s capital, was much smaller than the 15 April “Operation Gridlock” protest when supporters of Donald Trump organized thousands of people to publicly demonstrate against what they said was the overreach of Whitmer’s strict stay-at-home order.

Many people at Thursday’s “American Patriot Rally”, including militia group members carrying firearms and people with pro-Trump signs, appeared to be ignoring state social-distancing guidelines.

Members of the Michigan Liberty Militia were at the protest, armed with guns, and one member said that the group was there as a “security detail” for the event organizers, MLive.com reported. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors American extremist organizations, includes a “Michigan Liberty Militia” among its list of extreme antigovernment groups.

Governor Whitmer, and our state legislature, it’s over with. Open this state,” Mike Detmer, a Republican US congressional candidate, told the crowd. “Let’s get businesses back open again. Let’s make sure there are jobs to go back to.”

People had their temperature taken by police as they entered. Inside, they sang the national anthem and chanted: “Let us work.”

Police made only one arrest at the protest, Lt Brian Oleksyk, a Michigan state police spokesman, said. A 35-year-old male protester was arrested for assaulting another protester outside of the capitol building. While there was “a little bit of pushing” by protesters inside the building, Oleksyk said, “after verbally protesting for an hour, things calmed down.”

Michigan’s state senate minority leader, a Democrat, said the protesters had threatened Capitol police staff, press and lawmakers. “This protest wasn’t about the stay-at-home order, it was an opportunity for a small group of folks – very few of whom were engaging in social distancing or wearing masks – to show off their swastika posters, confederate flags, nooses hanging from cars and signs calling for murder,” said Jim Ananich, a Democrat who represents the city of Flint, in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the Michigan senate minority leader confirmed that at least one lawmaker on Thursday “chose to wear a bullet-proof vest”.

It is legal to openly carry firearms inside Michigan’s state capitol building.