Hundreds of demonstrators filled the streets around the Massachusetts State House in Boston on Monday for what event organizers dubbed a “Liberty Rally,” voicing outrage over Baker’s decision to extend the state’s lockdown another two weeks to May 18, further putting off the reopening of nonessential businesses as hundreds of thousands of residents file for unemployment.
Hoisting banners and signs with slogans such as “All jobs are essential” and “Open business, close Baker,” the protesters were corralled by police on opposite ends of the main road near the state house to keep traffic flowing, however a section of the street was eventually closed down for the rally.
The state has confirmed nearly 4,100 fatalities and over 69,000 cases of the illness – around 1,000 on Monday alone – putting it behind only New Jersey and New York.
Massachusetts joins a long line of states where residents have grown wary of the sweeping quarantine measures, with similar protests erupting in Michigan, California, Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, and Minnesota, among others.
The angry demonstrations come after wide swaths of the US economy were shut down under the lockdowns, prompting some 30 million Americans to file for unemployment benefits since mid March.