ALBANY — About 100 protesters braved the rain and rallied outside the Capitol on Friday, May 1 calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to open upstate.
Access to the Capitol was not as easy as it was for a similar rally last week that drew more people with cars driving up and down Washington Avenue while sign carrying protesters cheered them on.
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This week, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who issued a warning to both protesters and residents, to avoid the area, access was not as easy. The top of Washington Avenue was blocked off as was the ramp leading to the Capitol near the parking garages off Route 787. Other outlets reported road closures around the Capitol.
There was still a parade of cars, but not along Washington Avenue and not along upper State Street by the Capitol.
The message was a bit different too. While the main theme was the same — the shutdown infringes on Constitutional rights and that the cure is causing more issues, namely economic, than the virus — this week there were more signs touting God as king rather than Cuomo and those who advertised a hardcore aversion to any form of vaccination.
“We the American people and we will not stay home. We will never give up our freedoms,” said one of the event organizers, Cara Castronuova.
As the protesters rallied outside the Capitol, Cuomo was inside announcing the shuttering of schools for the remainder of the academic year.
