Residents against Indiana stay-at-home order protest outside governor’s mansion

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WAVE) - A group of residents against Indiana governor Eric Holcomb’s stay-at-home order protested outside the governor’s mansion in Indianapolis Saturday afternoon.

According to the group’s Facebook page, the protest was organized to exercise First Amendment rights and to lift restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Holcomb issued the stay-at-home order back on March 23 and was set to expire on April 20. On Friday, Holcomb ordered an extension of the order to help prevent spread.

Hundreds of protesters at the mansion on Saturday urged the governor to reopen all businesses that had been shut down as nonessential in order to restart the economy.

The group claimed that the governor’s orders shutting down businesses and churches is unconstitutional.

Governor Holcomb has been working with a group of six other governors, including Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, to coordinate when to reopen the economy in the Midwest region. Holcomb has said that the health and safety of citizens will be the top priority on when best to reopen the economy.

So far in Indiana, there have been 10,641 total positive cases of COVID-19 and 541 total deaths as of Saturday’s totals from the Indiana State Department of Health.