Showdown Coming? As MI Gov. Extends Lockdown, Armed Militias and Free Speech Protests Rise
Armed militia members were present Monday in Owosso, MI., as Karl Manke's barbershop reopened for business. The members of the Michigan Home Guard were there to block the door of the shop in case the police arrived, according to WEYI, a local NBC News outlet.
As CBN News reported, Manke, 77, has become a symbol of defiance against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's (D) statewide shutdown orders. He had been following all the rules since they were first implemented in mid-March. But he couldn't do it any longer.
"The shutdown collapsed me, mentally, physically, and spiritually," he admitted. "I was in despair. I had to go back to work...I don't have anybody paying me unless I'm doing work," he tweeted on May 6.
As of Tuesday, Michigan has more than 48,000 cases of COVID-19, and 4,674 people have died. The Wolverine State reportedly has the fourth-highest death toll in the country.
Many of the people present at the barbershop protest have been struggling with the economic collapse due to the COVID-19 shutdown. They live in areas that have been lightly touched by the virus and they simply want to go back to work.
And it appears the protests against Whitmer's orders will continue. The Guardian reports Michigan militia groups are calling for a rally at the state capitol building on Thursday to protest the governor's stay-at-home orders. Some fear protests like this one could erupt into violence.
In this April 30, 2020, photo, members of a militia group watch the protest outside while waiting for the Michigan Senate to vote at the Capitol in Lansing, Mich. (Nicole Hester/MLive.com/Ann Arbor News via AP)
State Attorney General Dana Nessel said Monday that her office was investigating "credible threats" against Democratic politicians. According to the Metro Times, Whitmer was the target of dozens of threats on private Facebook group pages. These pages have since been shut down by Facebook since they allegedly go against the social platform's policy of inciting violence.
However, the social media giant appears to also be shutting down groups that have no involvement in rallies, protests, or incitement of violence, but are simply and peacefully protesting the governor's orders through their right of free speech.
Facebook recently shut down the page for the group Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine (MAEQ). It was formed by a Michigan resident one month ago in response to Whitmer's shutdown orders. The page was the primary communication for the group which had some 386,000 members.
"It is sobering to see the unilateral power that a private social media juggernaut has over citizens in taking away their rights for free speech and assembly," the group's co-founder Garret Soldano said. "Equally shocking is the lack of due process or recourse for private individuals."
The group has incorporated and has formed a pending non-profit organization known as Stand Up Michigan, Inc., and have launched their own website.
Conservative radio and talk show host Rush Limbaugh told his listeners on Tuesday that the lockdowns by blue state governors are a form of political warfare, saying they are trying to ruin the economy in order to convince voters to reject President Trump this November.
"They're gonna wreck the economy. Their objective is to wreck the economy and get rid of Trump," Limbaugh said.
"These next four months are gonna be a veritable war like we have not seen," he warned.
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