While most stayed in their cars during a protest Sunday, hundreds of protesters took to Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza across the street from the state Capitol in Phoenix on Monday afternoon to protest the length of the shutdown Gov. Doug Ducey enacted in March that extends through April.
Organized on Facebook by a group called Reopen Arizona, several hundred people filled the park, played music and listened to speeches over a loudspeaker. Notably, many were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stressed when out in public. Signs were on display with sayings such as “#endthefearrany” and stories about how the order has shut down their small businesses.
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A large bus wrapped in President Donald Trump signs was parked in one of the lots along with a fire engine that hoisted an American flag into the sky with its ladder.
Many of the signs and speeches centered on how the mandated shutdowns ordered by the federal and state government are an infringement on peoples’ personal liberties.
The protest is just the latest in a chain of protests of what is seen by some as gubernatorial overreach in the name of flattening the curve of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China. A tally from FOX Business shows 24 states will have seen protests by the end of the day Monday, with three more scheduled later in the month.
Gov. Doug Ducey’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the protests.
