Denver Nurses Confront Trump Supporters Protesting Stay-at-Home Orders (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Defiant healthcare workers confronted supporters of US President Donald Trump while protesting stay-at-home orders in Denver and blocked their cars on Sunday, as the country fails to manage worst pandemic in its history.
Healthcare workers clashed with anti lockdown protesters in Colorado on Sunday, defiantly standing in front of the cars of demonstrators who flocked to the state Capitol in their hundreds to urge Gov. Jared Polis to lift COVID-19-induced stay-at-home orders, the Daily Mail reported.
Protests against state lockdowns implemented to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak continued nationwide in the afternoon, as a fervent disdain for the restrictions that have shut down much of the country's economy continues to slowly spread across the US.
Titled 'Operation Gridlock', the day's largest demonstration took place in Denver, where hundreds of protesters ignored social distancing guidelines to huddle together on the lawn of the state Capitol, waving flags emblazoned with slogans such as 'Your "health" does not supersede my right', 'Freedom over fear', and 'I would rather risk coronavirus than socialism'.
Mobilized by a number of groups on social media, the protesters called Gov. Polis a tyrant and insisted the ongoing economic cost of the shutdown was no longer worth the few lives it would save. But the protesters' efforts weren't met without resistance.
A group of healthcare workers stood in the street, clad in their scrubs and facemasks, to counter-protest the calls for re-opening, silently obstructing cars as they drove down towards the Capitol.
Footages show the nurses standing in front of a number of vehicles, staring back at the drivers with their arms crossed, refusing to move under a cacophony of horns and heckles.
Many protesters wore hats and t-shirts in support of Trump.
Heath experts and state governors across the US have continuously countered the cries for immediate reopening, insisting that any premature return to normalcy would be disastrous, inevitably leading to soaring new numbers of infections and a subsequent sharp increase in deaths.
President Donald Trump has signaled support for the protests though. After a public fall-out with several governors over his wrongful claims to have 'absolute power' to reopen the US economy earlier this week, Trump encouraged demonstrators in Michigan, Virginia, Minnesota, to 'liberate' their states, claiming their Second Amendment was 'under siege'.
The US is the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, with 759,204 recorded and 40,276 deaths. Despite the ominous statistics, Trump cited 'positive signs' in the fight against the pandemic on Saturday, believing the worst is now over.
