Anti-mask, anti-COVID restriction protesters to rally at SC State House Tuesday
A group of anti-mask and anti-COVID-19 closure protesters will be meeting at the State House Tuesday as South Carolina lawmakers return to discuss the state’s budget, spending of federal coronavirus dollars and virus voting precautions.
The protest, headed up by a group calling itself the United Patriots Alliance, will begin at about 10 a.m. on the South steps.
The group is protesting the various executive orders put in place by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster throughout the pandemic. Most of the orders that are still in place have to do how businesses should operate as the virus continues to spread across the state.
Those limitations include capping capacity on events and in restaurants, requiring customers to wear masks and limiting the hours that restaurants can sell alcoholic beverages.
During the early days of the pandemic, McMaster ordered several businesses to shutter, but he allowed slowly allowed them all to reopen over the summer.
Protest organizers called in a news release for state lawmakers to force the governor to end his outstanding executive orders.
“The people of SC have been living under multiple and unconstitutional Emergency Executive Orders issued by the Governor since March of 2020,” the statement read. “Millions of lives of South Carolinians have been negatively impacted and now is the time for the SC Legislature to act by declaring that the Governor’s orders must end immediately.”
Organizers have obtained a permit to protest on the State House grounds until 2 p.m., according to the Department of Administration. Department officials also told organizers that they must follow social distancing precautions, which limits the number of attendees to 250.
