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.
Some of the protesters shouted anti-government slogans, including comparing the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, to Hitler, The Guardian reported.
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.
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.
The estimated 400 to 700 people were protesting against Governor Gretchen Whitmer's extension of the State of Emergency and State of Disaster until May 28, as they argued the lockdown measures have crippled the state's economy.
The US is the worst-hit country in the world with over 1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 62,996 people having died with the disease. According to data released by the state of Michigan, the state has registered 3,789 deaths and 41,379 coronavirus cases according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.