WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2020) Dozens of motorists in the US state of Virginia on Wednesday staged a drive-in protest in the capital Richmond calling for an end to the state government-imposed lockdown - potentially the longest in the United States - in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
"Let us work" a banner summed up the mood among protesters as their motorcade inched along the center of Richmond honking, waving flags and carrying banners while being cheered by pedestrians.
Virginia authorities led by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam issued a stay at home order in full force and effect until early summer as well as implemented other stringent measures.
Virginia has conformed 9,630 novel coronavirus cases and 324 deaths, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
Drive-in protests have taken place across the United States by concerned citizens who have voiced worries that mostly Democratic state governors are violating their fundamental rights guaranteed by the US Constitution and are ruining the economy. They voice President Donald Trump's statements that the medicine against the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be worse than the disease.
Trump has called the residents to "liberate" Virginia, Minnesota, Michigan - and other US states - in a series of statements via Twitter and protect the Second Amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing Americans to keep and bear arms.
Last week, the White House published Federal guidelines inviting governors to start reopening their states' economies and restoring daily routines as soon as they have 14 days of decline in novel coronavirus cases.
More than 20 states, including Georgia and South Carolina, have announced they will lift some of the restrictions on businesses without waiting for the gating criteria to be met.
