About 100 demonstrators burned masks outside Idaho’s Capitol in Boise on Saturday as a statement against pandemic restrictions, according to authorities and people who tweeted from the scene.
At least three lawmakers from the state legislature and Lt. Gov Janice McGeachin were there to cheer them on, according to local media reports from the scene.
Video posted to Twitter suggests that most of the actual burning of masks took place inside small, self-contained fires lit in garbage bins. At least one person was filmed burning a picture of Joe Biden.
Amid warnings of a possible fourth surge of cases if public health measures are dropped too early, Joe Biden this week accused such Republican leaders of “neanderthal thinking”. Republicans protested.
In Boise, a man identified as Darr Moon, an organizer of the Saturday event, told the reporter Sergio Olmos in footage posted to Twitter: “I think people need to realize that we’re standing here today to rein back government, to reestablish our republican form of government, the government that has a balance between the branches.
Families burning masks on Idaho Capitol steps pic.twitter.com/6nfLWJ8XFy
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
“And we’re kind of that belief that we need well-defined government, certain boundaries and that’s not what we have today.”
“We’re not against face masks,” Moon added. “You know, some people might need to protect themselves. There are certain portions of the population that are elderly … they have issues. For healthy-bodied people, we want to go back to work.
“Our livelihoods have been put in jeopardy because of all the executive orders and mandates.”
According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center; about 1 in 4 people who’ve tested for the virus in the past week in Idaho have turned up positive. That’s down from the state’s all-time high the week of Dec. 6, when two-thirds of those tested were positive.
furthermore, The state has recorded 1,876 pandemic deaths; according to NBC News’ tally.
On Tuesday Idaho’s House State Affairs Committee opened the way for debate on a bill that would prohibit mask mandates by government entities.