Michigan lockdown protest: Fight breaks out over ‘hanged’ doll

Dozens of protesters, many carrying guns, have gathered in Michigan to denounce lockdown restrictions, with a fight breaking out.

A fight has erupted over a hanged doll representing a US governor as armed militia protested against the Michigan coronavirus lockdown.

Police said the brawl erupted between two demonstrators after one tried to take a sign from the other’s hand, The Sun reports.

A witness told MLive that the fight broke out after a man carrying a garbage can filled with a sign, an axe and an American flag, removed the flag from the trash.

A scuffle breaks out during the protest. Inset – A doll is seen hanging. Picture: Joshua Potash

Attached to the flag was a naked doll with brown hair hanging from a noose, representing Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Protest organisers reportedly called the display “hate speech.”

The witness said that the scuffle started when one protester tried to remove the doll from the flag.

A doll is seen hanging during the protest. Picture: Joshua Potash

Cops confirmed that both parties were interviewed by officers and there were no injuries or arrests made.

However, dozens of other protesters gathered at the state’s Capitol denouncing the coronavirus lockdown rules.

Many of the angry locals were seen carrying guns, wearing gasmasks and carrying demanding their “freedom.”

The demonstration is the third planned in Michigan since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer enforced stay-at-home orders.

A man brandishes an axe during the protest. Picture: Joshua Potash

Gov. Whitmer became a target of the protest on social media last week, the Metro Times reported.

“We need a good old fashioned lynch mob to storm the Capitol, drag her tyrannical a** out onto the street and string her up as our forefathers would have,” someone reportedly wrote in a Facebook group named “People of Michigan vs. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.”

Another said: “Drag that tyrant governor out to the front lawn. Fit her for a noose.”

Others suggests that Whitmer should be shot, beaten or beheaded, according to the local outlet.

Demonstrators hold a rally in front of the Michigan state capital building. Picture: AFP

On Wednesday, the governor told ABC: “I would be not truthful if I said it didn’t bother me. It certainly does.

“These protests, in a perverse way, make it likelier that we’re going to stay in a stay-home posture.

“The whole point of them supposedly is that they don’t want to be doing that.”

She continued: “These have been, really, political rallies, where people come with Confederate flags and Nazi symbolism and calling for violence.

“This is not appropriate in a global pandemic, but it’s certainly not an exercise of democratic principles, where we have free speech.

“This is calls to violence,” she said. “This is racist and misogynistic.”

A Protester with a Nerf gun stands near an armed protester at the Michigan Capitol Building on May 14, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan. Picture: AFP

Earlier this month, the governor slammed the recent protests inside the state capital, saying the demonstration reminded her of some of the “worst racism” in US history.

In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Whitmer called the protest of armed citizens “outrageous” and said their behaviour “is not representative of who we are.”

“Some of the outrageousness of what happened at our capital depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country,” she told host Jake Tapper.

“The Confederate Flags, and nooses, the swastikas, the behaviour that you have seen in all of the clips is not representative of who we are in Michigan,” she continued.

Michigan has lost at least 4,714 residents to the novel coronavirus, adding to the country’s death toll of 85,197.

The United States currently has a total of 1,223,419 confirmed cases.

However, 205,268 have recovered from the disease.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission.