Protests against coronavirus lockdown across U.S. frustrate officials

On-the-scene photos showed that the crowd stormed into the legislative building, attempting to get onto the House floor as state police and House sergeants blocked them from stepping further.

The Republican-controlled legislature voted later in the day not to extend the state’s state of emergency declaration before it expired at midnight, prompting Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer to immediately issue an order declaring new 28-day states of emergency and disaster.

Whitmer told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday what the protesters did depicted some of the “worst racism and awful parts” of the nation’s history.

“Some of the outrageousness of what happened at our capitol depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country,” she said. “The behavior you’ve seen in all of the clips is not representative of who we are in Michigan.”

In addition to Michigan, other states have also seen escalating tensions between government officials and the general public as similar anti-lockdown protests are ongoing.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said a now-reversed face mask mandate was “a bridge too far.” Noting that people in his state “were not going to accept the government telling them what to do,” the governor said his ability to communicate with Ohioans “was going to be really impeded.”