'Beyond reprehensible': Protesters' sick act amid lockdown anger

An effigy of a US governor has been hung from a tree with a rope by protestors claiming to be defending their constitutional rights amid the coronavirus crisis.

Video footage taken by the Courier-Journal shows the effigy of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear suspended from a tree in on the capitol grounds in Frankfort with a sign reading “Sic Semper Tyrannis.”

Dozens of people attended the Patriot Day 2nd Amendment Rally, according to local reports.

Among those present were some opposed to the governor’s restrictions meant to blunt the spread of the coronavirus.

Some toted guns and waved American flags and other flags with the words “Don’t Tread on Me.”

The shocking incident has drawn harsh criticism from both Democrat and Republican politicians.

Crystal Staley, a spokeswoman for Beshear’s office, told the Courier-Journal “this type of behaviour must be condemned”.

“The act that was displayed on Capitol grounds today, near where the governor and his young children live, was wrong and offensive,” she said.

“As Kentuckians we should be able to voice our opinions without turning to hate and threats of violence.”

State Senate Minority Leader Morgan Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat said on social media that the protest was “a new low”

“It is disgusting and wrong,” Mr McGarvey said in a statement on social media.

House Democratic leadership called the incident “beyond reprehensible”.

Governor Beshear recently eased lockdown restrictions, allowing restaurants to reopen as of Friday at a 33 per cent capacity. Outside dining is also allowed. And gatherings of 10 or fewer people are also permitted.

TJ Roberts, who is suing the governor for not reopening churches amid the pandemic, said the rally had been “overwhelmingly peaceful” until the effigy was hung.

“If you look into what’s happening, the people who are winning on reopening are winning on the grounds of peace,” Roberts told the Lexington Herald Leader.

“These calls for violence are not what I believe, not what a lot of the people there believe.”

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More protests in New York City

Protestors also took to the streets in the country’s hardest hit state over the weekend.

Members of the Indivisible Nation Brooklyn and Rise and Resist placed body bags on the footpath in front of Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City on Sunday (local time).

A handful of protestors, many of who have lost friends or family members to the virus, can be seen in images holding a banner reading “Trump lies, people die”.

The groups are hoping to draw attention to President Donald Trump and the US Government’s handling of the pandemic, which has taken almost 100,000 lives across the country.

US still leading the world in coronavirus cases

The US leads the world with more than 1.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 98,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

However, Brazil's daily virus deaths were higher than fatalities in the US for the first time over the past 24 hours, according to the country's Health Ministry.

Brazil registered 807 deaths over the last 24 hours, whereas 620 died in the United States.

President Trump addressed the deadly pandemic during two Memorial Day appearances.

Many attendees arrived at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia wearing masks but removed them for the outdoor ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Trump, who didn’t wear a mask, gave no remarks. He approached a wreath already in place, touched it and saluted.

Trump then travelled to Baltimore's historic Fort McHenry, where he declared: "Together we will vanquish the virus and America will rise from this crisis to new and even greater heights”.

“No obstacle, no challenge and no threat is a match for the sheer determination of the American people."

He praised the tens of thousands of service members and national guard personnel "on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus”.

Baltimore Mayor Bernard C "Jack" Young objected to Trump's visit in advance, saying it sends the wrong message about stay-at-home directives and the city cannot afford the added cost of hosting him when it is losing $20 million a month because of the pandemic.

The president's Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, chose Memorial Day to make his first public appearance in the two months since the pandemic hit the US.

with AAP and AP

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