According to NBC News
Demonstrators descended on the state Capitol in Lansing on Wednesday to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s restrictive stay-at-home order, clogging the streets with their cars while scores ignored organizers’ pleas to stay inside their vehicles.
The protest — dubbed “Operation Gridlock” — was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund, a DeVos family-linked conservative group. Protesters were encouraged to show up and cause traffic jams, honk and bring signs to display from their cars. Organizers wrote on Facebook: “Do not park and walk — stay in your vehicles!”
Many ignored the demand. Demonstrators, on foot, were seen waving American, “Don’t Tread on Me” and Trump campaign flags. At least two Confederate Flags were spotted.
Protesters could be heard chanting “Open up Michigan!” At one point, there was a “lock her up” chant in reference to Whitmer.
“We can get this rally done and stay within the social distancing guidelines,” Marian Sheridan, a Michigan Conservative Coalition co-founder, said in a statement ahead of the rally. “Citizens are frankly tired of being treated like babies. As adults, we now know what needs to be done to stay safe.”
Speaking to Michigan NBC affiliate WOOD-TV, one woman attending suggested she didn’t entirely trust the social distancing recommendations being made by “the so-called scientists” like Dr. Anthony Fauci, adding that she believes “very strongly in herd immunity.”
Tom Norton, a Republican congressional candidate running to unseat Rep. Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party last year, told WOOD-TV that “the cure is worse than the disease,” pointing to the impact of the shutdowns on small businesses and the potential for rising rates of depression and suicide.
The organizers’ Facebook page was flooded with comments, both in support and against the protest.
“Can people PLEASE stay in their cars, and if they get out, to wear masks and practice social distancing?” one Facebook user posted. “The statists will use any excuse to discredit the protest, so please don’t give them a freebie.”
“The guys on the steps of the (Capitol) are putting this protest backwards,” another wrote. “Now we are going to be portrayed as far right extremist. Thanks allot jerks…Stay in your dam car and put the freaking rifles away…You’re going to ruin this for everyone!”
Lt. Brian Oleksyk with the Michigan State Police told NBC News that “for the majority, the protest is peaceful at this time and has been,” adding that most “have been following the social distancing.”