HARTFORD, Conn. – Protesters opposed to coronavirus mask mandates and business closures — and some who believe Democrats stole the election from President Donald Trump — converged on the Connecticut state Capitol Wednesday as lawmakers prepared to be sworn in to start the 2021 legislative session.
Democrats expanded their majorities in the state House of Representatives and Senate in the November election and are expected to press an agenda that includes the legalization of marijuana, a public option for health care and the expansion of sports gambling.
Around 9 a.m., about an hour before the swearing-in was to begin, protesters gathered at the edge of Bushnell Park within shouting distance of where lawmakers will gather outdoors for the ceremony.
Amber Webster of Meriden, who was at the Capitol in opposition to a proposal to eliminate the religious exemption that allows students to attend public schools without receiving certain vaccines, held a sign that read “My Body My Choice” and “I Call The Shots.” The bill failed last year after the coronavirus forced an abrupt end to last year’s legislative session but is expected to be revived this year.
“I think that we should be the only persons making decisions for our own health, and that shouldn’t be dictated by politicians, even doctors or anyone else,” she said.
Jonathan Johnson, the founder of CT Liberty Rally, the grassroots group that had summoned many of the protesters to the Capitol Wednesday, dressed as Moses and held a sign that read “Set These People Free.”
“We have been in lockdown for over 10 months,” said Johnson, whose group has organized numerous protests in opposition to Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive orders shutting businesses and taking other steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “Enough is enough. People are going broke.”
“These are God-given rights,” Johnson later shouted to the crowd. “The government cannot take them from us. They are supposed to preserve them and protect them and guarantee them. Not strip them away whenever they say there’s a virus out there.”
