Based on President Donald Trump’s guidelines for reopening states in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, North Carolina is one of several states that simply isn’t ready to relax social restrictions, and some of its residents reject that mentality.
What We Know:
- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said the state will need help from the federal government to expand testing before it is able to reopen. “If you noticed the guidelines today, it said testing is the responsibility of the states,” Cooper said Thursday night on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes.
- A group of protesters, who demonstrated against North Carolina’s coronavirus restrictions, gained national attention over the weekend after carrying an assortment of different weapons into a Subway sandwich shop in Raleigh.
- Photographs taken by Travis Long, a photojournalist with The News & Observer, quickly went viral on social media on Saturday, racking up more than 7,000 retweets. The images, taken inside the Subway restaurant, showed multiple individuals with face coverings and weapons secured to their bodies.
A group of about 11 mostly-armed demonstrators protesting the stay at home order marched around downtown Raleigh and ordered sandwiches at a Subway. #Covid_19 #ncpol #MealTeamSix pic.twitter.com/XA1BIU7JHH
— Travis Long (@vizjourno) May 9, 2020
- The protesters were seen ordering sandwiches from Subway on Fayetteville Street. One was carrying an AT4 rocket launcher, with a sticker saying “inert” on it, slung over his back. The man also had two pistols in holsters on his waist.
- The gathering was orchestrated by a group called Blue Igloo as an “opportunity for First and Second Amendment supporters to get together, meet people with commonalities and get some exercise while we’re all wasting away at home,” according to its Facebook page.
- Much of this sailed by with little to no issues or arrests. Raleigh and State Capitol Police walked alongside them as they traveled through downtown.
It’s worth noting a particular confrontation with one of the members of the group and an African-American family walking on the street. A video showed a rather tame but uncomfortable interaction that could have gone sour real quick. The couple later posted on Facebook that a man made suggestive comments toward them after they asked to keep distance.
