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Michigan Legislature Shuts After Armed Protests and Death Threats

Right-wing anti-lockdown protesters gathered on the Capitol steps for a Thursday morning rally threateningly titled “Judgement Day.”

The Michigan state legislature has cancelled its Thursday session and closed the Capitol rather than face heavily armed anti-lockdown protesters, as lawmakers did two weeks ago, Bloomberg reports. Members of the right-wing group Michigan United for Liberty, who advocate for the easing of shelter-in-place restrictions, gathered instead on the Capitol steps in Lansing Thursday morning for a rally billed as “Judgment Day.” The Michigan Capitol allows visitors to come bearing guns, though the state’s attorney general has issued an opinion that state legislators have the authority to ban firearms there. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s, has also faced recent death threats over her stay-at-home order, which has been extended until the end of May.