About 2,500 protesters converge at Washington state capitol against stay-at-home order

By Gregory Scruggs

 

Two men hold signs as they protest against the state's extended stay-at-home order to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as hundreds gather to demonstrate at the Capitol building in Olympia, Washington, U.S. April 19, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson

 

OLYMPIA, WA. (Reuters) - An estimated 2,500 people rallied at the Washington state capitol on Sunday to protest Democratic Governor Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home order to limit the spread of coronavirus, defying a ban on gatherings of 50 or more people.

 

Despite pleas from rally organizers to wear face coverings or masks, many did not.

 

Police estimated the crowd at 2,500, making it one of the largest protests in U.S. states against lockdowns over the past week. In Olympia, hundreds gathered in close quarters on the steps of the capitol building and around a fountain, contravening state and federal health guidelines during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

 

“Shutting down businesses by picking winners and losers in which there are essential and non-essential are violations of the state and federal constitution,” rally organizer Tyler Miller, 39, an engineer from Bremerton, Washington, and a Republican precinct officer, told Reuters.

 

Protesters drove vehicles to the state capitol, honking horns and clogging streets.

 

'RISKING ALL HAZARDS'

"There is no question whatsoever the defense of liberty means risking all hazards," Miller said, paraphrasing a John Adams quote. "The American Revolution was fought at the height of the smallpox epidemic. Our founders were very aware of these sorts of risks."

 

Crowds remained on the capitol grounds after the scheduled finish of the rally, but Washington state police did not issue any citations, said spokesman Chris Loftis.

 

Trump on Friday tweeted support for similar protests in Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia to "liberate" them from social distancing rules.

 

While Miller stopped short of describing his rally as an effort to liberate Washington, he said, "It gives me comfort that he’s got my back."

 

Earlier on Sunday, Inslee said state Republican lawmakers were supporting rebellion against his social-distancing rules that have largely shut down the economy.

 

"Comments in the news by some Republican legislators calling for 'open rebellion,' claiming a 'deep state' plot and other radical statements are irresponsible and could needlessly lead to more people getting sick," Inslee, a Democrat, said in a statement.

 

"I support free speech. But crowd counts or speeches won’t determine our course. This isn’t about politics. It can only be about doing what is best for the health of all Washingtonians.”

 

Washington state had the nation’s first confirmed coronavirus case in late January and the first deadly cluster at a nursing home outside Seattle.

 

(Reporting by Gregory Scruggs; editing by Bill Tarrant and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-20

 

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It wont be long now before the collective thinking turns a full circle.

People been angrily demonised for suggesting 

"We shut the whole world down for a mid strength flu" 

Soon enough even the scared sheeple cowering indoors will start to feel the cabin craziness.

 

And how long before crime spikes?

 

What when the desperate realise that being in prison in your room is not much differance than being in a state run prison?

 

Actually it could be better for some as they get given regular meals.

 

 

 

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge"..." Issac Asimov

Arrest them make them work in a covid19 ward (with proper ppe)so they might fully understand and if they continue make them dig the graves don’t squander what has been gained by the great sacrifices thus far 

2 hours ago, keith101 said:

Ignorant Trumpers

Redundant.

15 minutes ago, J Town said:

Redundant.

Ah redundant Trumpers ok then .

2 minutes ago, keith101 said:

Ah redundant Trumpers ok then .

Freedom loving patriots that do not run and hide behind mommys skirt at the first sign of trouble.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Just look at this picture! It says it all! This are the actions of people in a country that have the worlds highest death toll from the pandemic. Signs with orders to end the shutdown as well as about 90% refuses to wear face masks. This is a really idiotic way of dealing with things. Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary. One thing surprise me though. Where is all the gun toting mad men? They would fit right perfect in this picture.

Anyway, extremely ignorant and irresponsible behaviour, especially carrying a child on his arm, of people that have over 40k deaths and still rising.

3 hours ago, keith101 said:

Ignorant Trumpers

Show how dangerous it is for leaders to send wrong messaging to the people. Certainly the protestors were emboldened by the encouragement from Trump. 

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Arrest them make them work in a covid19 ward (with proper ppe)so they might fully understand and if they continue make them dig the graves don’t squander what has been gained by the great sacrifices thus far 

I agree except for giving them PPE. 

1 minute ago, Matzzon said:

Just look at this picture! It says it all! This are the actions of people in a country that have the worlds highest death toll from the pandemic. Signs with orders to end the shutdown as well as about 90% refuses to wear face masks. This is a really idiotic way of dealing with things. Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary. One thing surprise me though. Where is all the gun toting mad men? They would fit right perfect in this picture.

Anyway, extremely ignorant and irresponsible behaviour, especially carrying a child on his arm, of people that have over 40k deaths and still rising.

Agree with your sentiments in your post and just to add to that..........

 

Last night I was watching the news and the protesters in Ohio railing against the lockdown measures and a couple of things stood out; there were those in military style garb, some completely in black and others in camouflage outfits, a large black Hummer with some redneck hanging out of the roof shouting support for these fools, and a few folks who looked as if they were inbred. To all intents and purposes this had a "military style" look to it.

 

It also mirrored, to a certain extent, the demonstrations in Charlottesville with clear evidence of Trump’s statements calling neo-Nazis ‘fine people", although he (and his supporters) later disputed that.

 

In amongst those demonstrators were people wearing a familiar mix of black shirted and military style garb, so the trend is there for these right wingers, and dressing in black seems to be their preferred style.....who'd have thunk it???? ????

20 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Freedom loving patriots that do not run and hide behind mommys skirt at the first sign of trouble.

Freedom loving patriots care about the welfare and health of their fellow citizens and wouldent dream of squandering what has been gained at such cost without proper testing tracing and quarantineing the ill,we are setting ourselves up for a 2ond wave just like 1918 except we are very much aware of the consequences of skrewing up

26 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Freedom loving patriots that do not run and hide behind mommys skirt at the first sign of trouble.

Of you go then. Get out and into it.

The stupidity is real. 

 

Particualrly admire the us president for tweeeting support

8 minutes ago, xylophone said:

large black Hummer with some redneck hanging out of the roof shouting support for these fools,

Believe I'm correct it was reported the guy is one of morons running the alt right conspiracy website, InfoWars

21 minutes ago, pegman said:

I agree except for giving them PPE. 

I disagree I wouldent willingly expose anyone to covid 19 but I know you aren’t serious would be nice for them to understand the consequences tho ehhh be safe all

42 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Freedom loving patriots that do not run and hide behind mommys skirt at the first sign of trouble.

They actually wear  the skirts, don't they?.....And hide behind their guns!

2 minutes ago, WalkingOrders said:

You know after watching some of these protests on TV I am overcome by pride and it brings a smile to my face.

 

Americans mock death and think nothing could be worse then a Government telling them what to do.

 

Cuts right to the heart of the traditional American psyche.

Mike Huckabee considered them modern day Rosa Parks.

1 minute ago, J Town said:

Mike Huckabee considered them modern day Rosa Parks.

Well...I disagree on that...and often find Huckabee to be not the brightest light on the conservative block.

32 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Agree with your sentiments in your post and just to add to that..........

 

Last night I was watching the news and the protesters in Ohio railing against the lockdown measures and a couple of things stood out; there were those in military style garb, some completely in black and others in camouflage outfits, a large black Hummer with some redneck hanging out of the roof shouting support for these fools, and a few folks who looked as if they were inbred. To all intents and purposes this had a "military style" look to it.

 

It also mirrored, to a certain extent, the demonstrations in Charlottesville with clear evidence of Trump’s statements calling neo-Nazis ‘fine people", although he (and his supporters) later disputed that.

 

In amongst those demonstrators were people wearing a familiar mix of black shirted and military style garb, so the trend is there for these right wingers, and dressing in black seems to be their preferred style.....who'd have thunk it???? ????

No....Trump never called Neo Nazis fine people. Never. Review the full text.

 

So its not that Trump supporters denied it .... its that the evidence proves it a lie... you already know that though. And sick of people who spread lies. 

55 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Just look at this picture! It says it all! This are the actions of people in a country that have the worlds highest death toll from the pandemic. Signs with orders to end the shutdown as well as about 90% refuses to wear face masks. This is a really idiotic way of dealing with things. Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary. One thing surprise me though. Where is all the gun toting mad men? They would fit right perfect in this picture.

Anyway, extremely ignorant and irresponsible behaviour, especially carrying a child on his arm, of people that have over 40k deaths and still rising.

Land of the Free

And the Home of the Brave

 

You must have enough rice to handle being shutdown forever right?!

 

The global economy has to reopen. Period!

Edited April 20, 20206 yr by WalkingOrders
Sp

6 minutes ago, WalkingOrders said:

The global economy has to reopen. Period!

Says You, and 2 500 more people behaving irresponsible and careless. The global economy has to re-open, but not too early. Some countries have a declining trend in infections and deaths. Hell yes, they can think about re-opening. US on the other hand, with over 40 000 deaths and at it´s peak in daily infections. That at the same time as people can not understand such a simple thing as wearing a face mask to protect themself and show respect to others. They can not re-open yet! It´s far too early and, if they do, the result will show them how wrong they were.

It´s quite easy to see. Look at asian countries and other countries where they quickly understood the value of working together, not fighting each other as well as most people are wearing a face mask. If you do that, you can clearly see the trend that they have managed better and have a lower death toll as well as smaller amount of infected people.

 

Go figure!

1 hour ago, Matzzon said:

Just look at this picture! It says it all! This are the actions of people in a country that have the worlds highest death toll from the pandemic. Signs with orders to end the shutdown as well as about 90% refuses to wear face masks. This is a really idiotic way of dealing with things. Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary. One thing surprise me though. Where is all the gun toting mad men? They would fit right perfect in this picture.

Anyway, extremely ignorant and irresponsible behaviour, especially carrying a child on his arm, of people that have over 40k deaths and still rising.

If YOU look at the number of USA deaths in conjunction with the populace numbers YOU will find their numbers are low in comparison with some EU countries.

 

But, regarding the protests, I think the living brain dead can obviously can walk...

 

I saw a pic of blokes turning up at protests with what looked like assault rifles to look cool and tough. bunch of shed occupiers, tools..... ????

Some off topic post and an abusive post have been removed, also replies

Eastern Washington State is a hotbed for alt-right, extreme gun activists, who are the organizing force behind a lot of these protests:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/19/pro-gun-activists-using-facebook-groups-push-anti-quarantine-protests/

 

Quote

Pro-gun activists using Facebook groups to push anti-quarantine protests

A trio of far-right, pro-gun provocateurs is behind some of the largest Facebook groups calling for anti-quarantine protests around the country, offering the latest illustration that some seemingly organic demonstrations are being engineered by a network of conservative activists.
 

The Facebook groups target Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and they appear to be the work of Ben Dorr, the political director of a group called “Minnesota Gun Rights,” and his siblings, Christopher and Aaron. By Sunday, the groups had roughly 200,000 members combined, and they continued to expand quickly, days after President Trump endorsed such protests by suggesting citizens should “liberate” their states.

 

 

 

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/far-right-extremists-well-entrenched-on-washington-idaho-border/

 

Quote

 

Far-right extremists well entrenched on Washington-Idaho border

SPOKANE — Nearly two decades after the Aryan Nations’ Idaho compound was demolished, far-right extremists are maintaining a presence in the Pacific Northwest.
 

White nationalism has been on the rise across the U.S., but it has particular resonance along the Idaho-Washington border, where the Aryans espoused hate and violence for years.

...

In 2018, at least nine hate groups operated in the region of Spokane and northern Idaho, including Identity Evropa, Proud Boys, ACT for America and America’s Promise Ministries, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

 

 

Edited April 20, 20206 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

Hope they all pack together nice and tight. Always been a fan of natural selection. 

26 minutes ago, WalkingOrders said:

No....Trump never called Neo Nazis fine people. Never. Review the full text.

 

So its not that Trump supporters denied it .... its that the evidence proves it a lie... you already know that though. And sick of people who spread lies. 

Yes, he did. About one minute into this shows the proper context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmaZR8E12bs

 

So trump supporters protesting in defiance of trumps orders to on how to deal with the virus. 

 

Trump at war he says. Whats the way to fight a war? Of course its to complain about who started it.

From the Wash Post's article above re the Michigan protests....

 

3 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

I would! It´s fantastic that so many people from there, not saying all Americans are bad, can complain about Thailand so much. That when they have so much mayhem at home.

Really............Own up, you are Thai.................????