Colorado’s healthcare workers confront anti-lockdown protesters

A small group of healthcare workers confronted anti-lockdown protesters in Colorado, when they demanded the state reopen and ease the restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hundreds of people gathered at the state capitol in Denver, waving flags and protest signs. Lines of cars and trucks drove around honking their horns. 

But photos and videos from the protests showed a small number of workers dressed in scrubs and wearing protective masks standing on the road and blocking the vehicles in a counterprotest.

One video showed a woman in a USA T-shirt leaning out of the passenger window of a pick-up truck and shouting at the health workers while holding a sign that read: “Land of the Free”.

She was heard saying: “If you want communism, go to China!”

She appeared to be expressing the view that temporarily shutting down non-essential services in the United States is equivalent to the actions of a communist state.

Sources report that front-line workers were applauded for taking a stand against the demonstration. A recent Pew Research poll shows that most Americans are worried about lockdown measures being lifted too soon.

Local reports say some protesters believe the government shutdown was part of a wider plan to undermine the economy and hurt US President Donald Trump’s re-election prospects.

Protesters around the country have rallied against coronavirus restrictions and have complained that they infringe on their personal freedoms and threaten to destroy their livelihoods.

Colorado, like much of the US, has seen unprecedented job losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 232,000 people filing for unemployment benefits since March.

The US has nearly a million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 55,000 deaths, the highest numbers in the world.

This report was produced and edited by Al Jazeera NewsFeed’s Seena Khalil.