Protesters do push-ups outside Florida courthouse in call for gyms to reopen

Imogen Braddick12 May 2020

Protesters started working out on the pavement outside a Florida courthouse on Monday in a call for gyms to reopen amid the coronavirus lockdown.

The group of 30 gym-goers gathered outside Pinellas County courthouse in Clearwater to protest against a statewide order that closed gyms last month because of the virus outbreak.

The protestors were seen waving flags and banners and doing push-ups on the pavement, WFLA-TV reports, but there was a distinct lack of social distancing among the group.

One person on Twitter commented: "Working out to protest that you can't work out is the most Florida thing I've seen this week."

The World on Coronavirus lockdown

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Another added: "And they're trying to prove what, exactly? Open the gyms so we can do the exercises we're doing right here on the sidewalk?"

“They seem to be making the point that you do not need a gym to exercise!” another commentator pointed out.

The demonstration comes as protesters have taken to streets across the United States to demand the reopening of businesses, despite the number of Covid-19 deaths topping 80,000.

Hundreds of people swarmed the streets in Huntington Beach in California earlier this month to demand an end to the lockdown.

People packed out the streets in the city south of Los Angeles, defying an order to close all of Orange County's beaches which was issued after "concerning" images emerged of large crowds of beachgoers.

In Colorado, nurses defied a demonstration by standing in front of cars carrying protesters who were urging Governor Jared Polis to lift the lockdown.

REUTERS

After social distancing guidelines expired last month, President Donald Trump announced that the federal government would not be extending the advice.

"We're heartened that the worst of the pain and suffering is going to be behind us," Mr Trump said at the time as he led a roundtable with executives from companies like Hilton and Toyota.

The president laid out a vision of a return to pre-coronavirus normalcy - "with or without" a vaccine - with packed restaurants and filled stadiums.

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