Chanting, "Let us work!", "Put this on TV!" and "Fire Fauci!" about 300 protesters swarmed together, defying health experts’ warnings about social proximity, Saturday at a "You Can’t Close America Rally" on the south steps of the Capitol.

The rally against stay-at-home orders, like those imposed by Gov. Greg Abbott, was heavily promoted by InfoWars — Alex Jones’ Austin-based conspiracy website — and one of its hosts, Owen Shroyer. Attendees came from as far away as Corpus Christi and Fort Worth.

"We thought it was going to be a lot bigger than this," said Lisa Ray, 52, who was there with her husband, John Ray, 59, and their daughter, Shanti, 8, who wore a snugly pink bunny outfit.

The Rays, who live in Burleson, just south of Fort Worth, were drawn to the event by desperation and cabin fever.

"We’re behind on our rent. My car payments got extended until June 1, but that’s going to come due and we don’t have the money to pay," Lisa Ray said. She does windshield repair for a used-car dealership in Fort Worth. Her husband lost his job doing charity bingo in Arlington in early March.

When they found out about the Austin rally, they figured, "We like road trips, he’s stuck at home, and she’s stuck at home," Lisa Ray said, referring to Shanti. "This is her first outing in about two-and-a-half, three weeks. I said, `Let’s go. Gas is cheaper right now.’ "

Are they worried about catching the coronavirus?

"I don’t think there’s anything to catch," she said, viewing whatever is going around as just another strain of the flu, for which the family is not vaccinated. Like many in the crowd, they also weren’t wearing masks, as the city of Austin requires.

Her husband has asthma.

"Are you afraid?" she asked him.

"Nope," he replied. "If it’s your time, it’s your time. I’m ready to see Jesus today. Amen. Especially if he puts food on the table and keeps a roof over my little girl’s head. That’s all I’m concerned about is keeping my family safe. And eating."

On Friday, Abbott announced he would be relaxing some of the more severe restrictions he had imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic, and formed what he called a Strike Force to Open Texas.

For the time being, his order that Texans stay home unless they are involved in an essential activity — like buying groceries, picking up takeout or getting some exercise— remains in place. He has continued to stress the importance of Texans who don’t live together staying at least 6 feet from one another.

"He’s kind of stuck in a hard place," Lisa Ray said of Abbott.

Protesters have congregated in state capitals across the country in recent days, including a Thursday rally that drew about 150 people to the Texas Governor’s Mansion.

On Friday, President Donald Trump seemed to egg on the protests, at least against Democratic governors who issued stay-at-home orders.

"LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" and "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" he tweeted.

But Trump has only had praise for Abbott, and the president had told governors in a conference call Thursday that "you’re going to call your own shots" on lifting social distancing requirements and restarting their economies.

"We ask that the public complies with the social distancing guidelines set forth by the Governor’s Executive Orders and the (national) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement about the Austin demonstrations. "Our officers will take appropriate enforcement action — as with any other protest — should the situation warrant such action."

But troopers did not appear to keep people apart Saturday, and they told those avoiding the crowd by standing in 11th Street to move onto the jammed sidewalk.

"Everyone was aware of the executive orders," said Sgt. Victor Taylor, a DPS spokesman. "Everyone needs to take their own responsibility of their actions."

Both Shroyer —whose Twitter account was suspended Thursday apparently for promoting a rally that flouted social distancing rules — and Jones, who arrived at the rally in an armored truck, spoke at the rally.

Recent Maryland transplant Johnny Rice, who arrived with a shofar and a bullhorn and, with his amplification, seemed to have inserted himself into the pre-rally warm-up by the south gate.

"Numbers, Chapter 10, says when we blow the shofar, God breaks the power of evil," Rice said. "By the blood of Jesus may we break every deception of the government that is trying to stop us from our freedom."

"This is a biological weapon by Fauci, fascist Fauci," he said, referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert who has been advising Trump through the crisis, and who Rice said "is a puppet of Bill Gates."

He asked God to "let Trump fire Fauci," and also kick his daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, whom Rice described as "globalists financed by George Soros," out of the White House.

Tisha Jones (no relation to Alex Jones) brought her sons, Josh and Junda, to the protest, "because I think this is historical."

"This is a teaching moment. This is a learning moment for them. They’re in high school. I think this important for them to see. A lot of the things they were taught in school actually played out," said Jones, whose sons had signs that read, "Let us travel" and "Lift the travel ban"

"I understand where (the government) is coming from but a lot of the data just doesn’t add up. We shouldn’t have all these things taken away from us," she said. "We live near Corpus Christi, and we can’t go to the beach. That’s our happy place. A lot of the things that they’re doing just doesn’t make sense."

"This is not a data-driven concern," said Dustin Stewart of Fort Worth, whose third summer running SquadSTX, a boys camping program in Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, is threatened with ruin because of what he considers the government overreaction to COVID-19.

But Stewart said that more than his spreadsheet brought him to Austin.

"I wanted to be here," Stewart said. "It’s in the First Amendment to air your grievances. It’s kind of like a duty."

"There’s nothing in the law that says you can take away the right of assembly. Period. You can’t make an executive order. You can’t pass a state law. And I don’t need someone in a robe to interpret it for me," Stewart said. "It’s in a crisis when these things are supposed to be the most important.

John Cores, 72, who came from Gonzales, played Woody Guthrie’s "This Land is Your Land" on his Yamaha acoustic guitar.

"This land is our land, and they are taking it away from us," said Cores, who said he was also trying to bring live music back to Austin.

He strummed along to Alex Jones leading a chant of "Texas! Texas! Texas!"

"It’s all psy-ops," Jones growled, placing the pandemic in what is for him very familiar terrain.

Statesman reporter Emily Hernandez contributed to this article.