A pro-Trump group plans to hold “MAGA May Day” rallies in cities nationwide on Friday as they protest against pandemic lockdown measures and stay-at-home orders.
The car rallies organized, by Women for America First, are set to see protesters “drive for freedom” in several major cities tomorrow—including New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Although they plan to rally against stay-at-home orders and other pandemic measures, organizers have also said they are “not anti-quarantine” and warned supporters that the novel coronavirus is a “very real” threat to public health.
Backers were also told to adhere to social distancing measures on Friday. “Don’t give the liberals things to talk about,” one woman said in a Facebook video promoting the events.
“This virus is not a hoax. It is very real and we must protect the most vulnerable… health care workers, the elderly, those who are immuno-compromised, and others,” a statement on the MAGA May Day website reads.
“However, America cannot destroy the lives and dreams of the majority to protect a few. The cure cannot be more dangerous than the disease. We risk losing who we are as a nation by completely shutting down the country and the economy.”
Advertising the nationwide protests on Facebook, Women for America First argue that the U.S. Constitution is “under attack” from state authorities who have “taken this opportunity to infringe upon many basic rights of its citizens.”
“Our First and Second Amendment rights are what protect the rest and WE THE PEOPLE will not sit idly by and allow the US constitution to be trampled by a government or a social media platforms,” the pro-Trump group says.
“The Founding Fathers didn’t include a ‘in case of Virus’ clause in the Constitution that justified throwing our inalienable rights away by elected officials or bureaucrats.”
Women for America first have told protesters to gather in their cars outside local government buildings and state capitols from Midday on Friday. The events are slated to end at 1 p.m. local time.
MAGA May Day protesters have been told to wave American flags from their car windows, hold up signs and blare music, The New York Daily News reported.
Newsweek has contacted the Women for America First group for further details. This article will be updated with any response.
As states have issued stay-at-home orders and other measures aimed to combating the spread of COVID-19 this month, they have been met with several small protests from locals opposed to the pandemic rules.
Rallies took place in nine states on April 19 after a handful of rallies popped up around the country in early April. As of 3:10 a.m. ET on Thursday, Newsweek counted 47 MAGA May Day rallies scheduled for Friday.
*story by NewsWeek