New Hampshire, Maryland, Texas: Protests demanding the lifting of containment measures against the coronavirus agitated several American cities on Saturday, encouraged by Donald Trump, accused of stirring up divisions.
They were about 400 to demonstrate, on foot or from their car, in front of the Parliament of Concord, capital of the small state of New Hampshire (1.3 million inhabitants), relatively spared from the epidemic with 1,287 confirmed cases and 37 deaths of coronavirus on Friday. Republican Governor Chris Sununu ordered confinement there until at least May 4.
“The figures lie” or “Reopen the N.H.”, proclaimed certain signs held up by the demonstrators, who seemed to ignore the instructions of distancing given by the authorities.
Among them were militia-style armed and hooded men. AFP did not see any police.
“People are quite ready to do the right thing,” but “the numbers do not justify the draconian containment measures we have in New Hampshire,” Skip Murphy, 63, told AFP. who presented himself as a voter for Donald Trump.
In Annapolis, capital of Maryland, protesters stayed in their cars, and AFP saw around 200 parades in front of the local parliament. “Poverty also kills,” said a sign, “I will not obey illegal decrees,” said another.
In Austin, the capital of Texas, there were about 250 of them, there too little concerned with the rules of distancing. Their slogans denounced in particular “the economic collapse” precipitated by the cessation of all non “essential” activities.
Confinement has exploded the number of unemployed people across the country, and deprived many people of all income.
Alex Jones, founder of the information site close to the far right Infowars, on the initiative of the demonstration, arrived in a pickup truck looking like a tank, under the cheers of the crowd.
“Failed science”
If these rallies seemed to bring together many supporters of Donald Trump, some participants stressed that their motivations were primarily economic.
Dolores, a hairdresser who protested in Annapolis, said she can no longer work or receive government assistance because she is an employer and not employed.
“I have to save my things, I have to work to live, otherwise I will die,” she told AFP.
“We have constitutional rights in the United States,” said Amira Abuzeid, a stay-at-home mom in Austin. “People have the right to work, they have the right to eat, they have the right to assemble freely, and these rights cannot be taken away on the basis of failing science.”
“I am not a doctor but I can calculate, and finally the figures are not so worrying”.
Although the demonstrators are generally few, such demonstrations have multiplied in recent days in the United States, the country most affected by the coronavirus with more than 715,000 cases and 37,000 deaths.
The largest to date took place on Wednesday in Lansing, the capital of Michigan, where some 3,000 people have vilified the confinement measures of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
President Trump, who does not hide his haste to “reopen” the economy of the country while leaving the governors of each state to decide when and how to lift the restrictions, called on Friday to “free” from containment three states managed by governors Democrats – Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia.
The governor of New York, the most affected by the epidemic with more than 236,000 confirmed cases and a containment order in force at least until May 15 – despite a number of daily deaths down – acknowledged Saturday that some less affected states could adopt faster economic recovery strategies than their own.
“The numbers dictate the strategies,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo during a press briefing.
But he implicitly criticized the attitude of Donald Trump and some Republican officials who criticize the prolonged confinement by Democratic governors.
Containment is “emotionally difficult, and economically disastrous,” he said. But “how can the situation get worse, and get worse quickly? If you politicize all that emotion. We can’t afford it,” he insisted.
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