US President Donald Trump appeared to support protesters on Friday protesting containment orders to curb the spread of the coronavirus, calling for the "liberation" of three democratically-ruled states.
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In capital letters, and a handful of minutes apart, the billionaire wrote to his account to nearly 80 million subscribers: "Free Minnesota!", "Free Michigan!" and "Free Virginia". For the latter state, he added, with reference to the right of the Americans to bear arms: “And save your formidable second amendment. He's under siege! ” These three states are headed by democratic governors who have ordered their residents to stay at home. The pandemic has killed more than 30,000 people in the United States, which identified nearly 700,000 cases of coronavirus on Friday, according to real-time counts from Johns Hopkins University.
Michigan has nearly 2,000 deaths, Virginia 208 and Minnesota 87 deaths. In these states, protesters this week breached the order to stay at home to protest the confinement and call on their governors to reopen the economy. In Minnesota, in St Paul, they were just several hundred Friday gathered under the slogan "Liberate Minnesota" in front of the residence of the governor Tim Walz, according to the local press. In Lansing, capital of Michigan, there were about 3,000 on Wednesday, sometimes armed, to denounce the democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer, some calling for the "lock up" , others carrying banners in favor of Donald Trump.
Predicted as one of the Democratic House candidate Joe Biden's runners-up, the governor said she hoped the Donald Trump tweets would "not encourage more protests." "There are a lot of anguish and I think the most important thing that someone with a platform of" like Twitter "could do would be to use this platform to tell people + We'll go out" , she added at a press conference. "No one is more anxious than me to revive our economy but the last thing I want is to see a second wave" of contagion, she said.
Washington State Democratic Governor Jay Inslee was outraged at presidential tweets that he said encouraged "dangerous and illegal acts". "It puts millions of people in danger of catching the Covid-19. His unbalanced tirades and calls to "liberate" states could also lead to violence, " he tweeted.
