dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Anonymous ID: 41a240 May 3, 2020, 3:40 p.m. No.9016946 🗄️.is 🔗kun >>6985

tyb

An awakened population is their greatest fear.

United we stand, protecting our rights and freedoms. This is a worldwide movement, to defeat the enemy once and for all. We will defeat the enemy, together

Protesters rally to ‘reopen’ Oregon. “Other folks wore shirts or waved signs signaling support for Q Anon, the far-right conspiracy theory that alleges government operatives are planning to overthrow President Donald Trump.”

SALEM — Demonstrators flocked to the state Capitol on Saturday, the latest in a series of national protests demanding governors ease social distancing restrictions meant to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A few hundred folks gathered in front of the Oregon State Capitol, rain alternately pounding and drizzling as many attendees waved signs with slogans like “Reopen Oregon," “Open schools” and “no more masks.” Other demonstrators waved the U.S. flags or “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, while others waved banners reading “Trump 2020.”

Organizers of Oregon’s demonstration told The Oregonian/OregonLive they view the social distancing mandates issued by Gov. Kate Brown as government overreach. Since mid-March, Brown’s orders have shuttered many businesses, put some parks and campgrounds off limits and required public schools to adopt distance learning programs.

“You can’t just place citizens under house arrest and enforce those orders,” event organizer Adam Ellifritt said.

Some of the rally-goers wore face masks but the vast majority did not.

The reserved parking lot in front of the building was packed for much of the three-hour event. A sizable crowd formed across the street between the Department of Education headquarters and state library building as country and hard rock music blasted from tents and horns blared from a non-stop parade of vehicles circling the block.

Nods to conspiracy theories and fringe websites peppered the crowd. One attendee held a sign accusing the U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies of preparing a “mass vaccination campaign."

Other folks wore shirts or waved signs signaling support for Q Anon, the far-right conspiracy theory that alleges government operatives are planning to overthrow President Donald Trump.

About an hour into the rally, many rain-soaked protest signs were practically illegible as they bled black and red ink. The Oregon rally was devoid of the scenes that went viral during similar protests across the country.

A group of healthcare workers stood atop the Capitol steps, holding signs that urged a phased plan to ease the state’s social distancing requirements. One woman, who declined to provide her name, said she wanted the state to ensure it can provide medical workers with personal protective equipment and also properly trace contacts of those who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The healthcare workers were largely ignored by demonstrators, who largely kept to the foot of the Capitol steps, but a few rally-goers harangued them.

Cheryl Greenlee of Salem said she attended Saturday’s event to support of the message rally organizers had set forth: ease social distancing restrictions and allow businesses to reopen.

She’s retired and, until last month, volunteered to maintain the Riverfront Carousel just blocks from the Capitol. She said the governor’s orders have had a harsh impact on the city’s senior citizens, who regularly visited the carousel.

“For some of those people, it’s their only social contact,” she said. “It’s time to be smart — and I really want us to do this smartly — and let businesses start reopening.”

Annya Gostevskyh, 19, said she didn’t understand why the governor’s order mandated healthy people, rather than those most at-risk, to shelter in place.

“If you feel good and normal, you should be able to do as normal,” she said.

The Salem resident runs an online CBD oil shop, Blessed Beyond Naturals, with her mother and said the social distancing orders haven’t affected her bottom line much.

Ellifritt told The Oregonian/OregonLive earlier in the week he hoped attendees would maintain a safe distance during the rally, but a crowd clustered closely in front of a white tent at the foot of the Capitol steps as a series of speakers took the mic.

https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/05/protesters-rally-to-reopen-oregon-lobby-against-coronavirus-restrictions.html