Hundreds call on Gov. Inslee to “Re-open Washington”

Hundreds of people demonstrated along George Washington Way in Richland Sunday afternoon with a simple message about Governor Jay Inslee's executive orders regarding the Coronavirus.

"People are suffering, and I understand the disease is dangerous, and I understand the disease is real", says protest organizer Christopher Michaud. "However, people need to go back to work. e need to re-open Washington. That is the message we have, re-open Washington."

Michaud knows all too well the power of the virus. A good friend of his contracted it, but recovered.

“I support free speech", Governor Jay Inslee noted in a statement Sunday afternoon. "But crowd counts or speeches won’t determine our course. This isn’t about politics. It can only be about doing what is best for the health of all Washingtonians.”

Protests and demonstrations all across the country took place Sunday, commemorating "Patriot's Day" and the Revolutionary War battles of Concord and Lexington. And many, including Michaud, do correlate, on some level, what happened 245 years ago in this country and what is going on now.

"It's not the tyranny that they went through", Michaud notes. "However, there are a lot of people who are under duress, and I think something should be done about it."

Most of the vehicles driving by the demonstrations did honk their horns in support, but several shouted and held up their own signs of opposition as well.