Protesters storm Michigan capitol

WASHINGTON: Hundred of protesters, some of them armed with guns, swarmed Michigan state’s assembly building in Lansing on Thursday demanding the removal of stay-at-home orders in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

The state’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer has been under pressure from protestors, mostly conservatives, to lift the restrictions. President Donald Trump, who had publicly backed the protestors, weighed in again on Friday asking her in a tweet to “give a little, and put out the fire”.

She extended the restrictions to May 15, after the Republicancontrolled legislature refused.

Arms are allowed in the Michigan statehouse. Some legislators wore bulletproof vests to the floor of the House.

An increasing number of states are reopening and have allowed selected businesses to resume operation with strict social-distancing guidelines.

Michigan is among the hardest hit by the virus with more than 3,700 fatalities till Thursday, and upwards of 41,000 infections.

The US recorded more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a 24-hour period for the third day running, according to a tally on Thursday reported by Johns Hopkins University. At least 63,000 people have now died in the country.

President Trump, who is intent on a easing restrictions soon, was scheduled to leave the White House for the time since late March. He will make a 40-km trip to Camp David, the presidential retreat in the adjoining state of Maryland.