Florida: Protesters gather outside courthouse without masks demanding reopening of gyms

Amid the ongoing protests to reopen states in the US, a group of 30 or more protesters gathered outside a Pinellas County courthouse on May 11, calling for gyms to reopen in the State of Florida. Over the course of their protest, demonstrators started to exercise, doing crunches, push-ups, and squats on the streets to prove their point, according to videos that emerged online and the US media reports.  

Governor Ron DeSantis had issued a statewide safer-at-home order last month to slow the spread of coronavirus, and the gyms across Florida had remained closed due to health safety issues. However, the executive order expired when the state started the first phase of reopening last week. But gyms – at this point –weren’t allowed to reopen until the state reached Phase Two of the governor’s reopening plan, as per local media reports. Therefore, a hoard of gym protesters gathered in Clearwater on Monday morning, calling for gyms to reopen for the customers to return to the exercise routine.  

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Read: Florida Surpasses 1,000 Coronavirus Deaths, 30,000 Cases

Netizens split over reopening the gyms

Brandishing the signs and waving the flags outside the courthouse, the protesters hit the sidewalk pavement to do push-ups and squats and caught the attention of the onlookers and the moving traffic. People took to their social media to comment on the demonstrators as some Floridians wrote that it wasn’t soon enough to reopen gyms, on Twitter. “We must never allow our civil liberties to be encroached upon and we must allow our businesses in the Tampa Bay Area to re-open,” Open Tampa Bay Facebook page wrote sparking further discussions.  

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(Image Credit: Twitter/@porbotialora)