A dozen or so unmasked protesters ignoring social distancing staged a rally for an end to business restrictions

SARASOTA — A social media phenomenon exhorting frustrated Floridians to "Come Prepared for a Traffic Jam in Sarasota — We Want Gridlock" elicited a sparse turnout in a downtown area largely devoid of Monday morning rush-hour traffic.

Stoked by "Operation Gridlock" events that created logjams in the capitals of Michigan and Colorado last week, a dozen or so unmasked protesters ignoring social distancing staged a rally for an end to business restrictions created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Unable to amass the sort of caravans that drew so much media coverage in other states, Monday’s demonstration was reduced largely to a pedestrian display at the intersection of East Avenue and Ringling Boulevard. Signs such as "Everyone’s income is essential! Open Florida," "#Fire Fauci — Fake Data! Fake Deaths!" and "Make Florida Work Again" drew occasional honks from light traffic.

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Manatee County activist Bailey Paxton said, "I’m lucky to still be employed, but about seven of my friends don’t have jobs, and they’re living now based on people donating money to help them out — and I’m one of them.

"There’s nothing wrong with asking people who are sick to stay home. What I have an issue with is telling people who are healthy and aren’t afraid to stay home. They’re taking away a lot of our liberties and freedoms. But those are basic rights, and they’re inalienable."

An hour into the demonstration, at 9 a.m., a Sarasota Police Department officer passing by on a motorcycle offered a reminder through a microphone: "Hey folks, you need to be six feet apart, please. We don’t mind you being there, just stay six feet apart."

The demonstrators obeyed but gradually closed ranks again, in stark contrast to the lone figure dressed in scrubs standing directly across from them on the south side of East Avenue.

"I sympathize with them, I really do," said the man, who identified himself as a registered nurse at "a major hospital" but declined to give his name. "What’s happening is horrible, it’s really scary.

"I just worry about people who don’t know each other standing so close to one another. I want them to be safe, and I want to represent safe social distancing. And if something happens to them, we’ll be here for them."

Mac Maclary of Nokomis clung to two American flags and an "Open Our Beaches" sign. He wanted to know why Jacksonville’s beaches are open while the Sarasota shoreline remains closed.

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"This makes absolutely no sense. There’s no logic to it, or any basis in science," he said. "They’re just trying to ruin the economy and take President Trump down to fix the election for the Democrats."

Kimberly Hall and Phillip Davis drove from Plant City to vent in public. Davis, a barista, is still on the job, but he has watched customer traffic cut in half. Hall is a self-employed "online retailer" and full-time mother of a 3-year-old. Business has fallen off a cliff and she said she’s "really scared."

"I saw where something like 30 to 40% of Americans wouldn’t be able to afford a surprise bill of $400. Well, that’s me," Hall said. "I’ve applied for seven jobs and I haven’t gotten a single callback. If this keeps up I’ll have to go to a food bank. I can’t believe it."

Hall said she wants Anthony Fauci, the Trump administration’s top medical adviser, to lose his job for touting "overblown" rates of infection and death.

Davis said he was "kind of looking forward to gridlock" in Sarasota because he wanted to push back against what he described as heavy-handed government regulation.

"When you instill fear in people, you can kind of make them do whatever you want," Davis said. "That’s what scares me the most."

Davis said he doesn’t mind greeting strangers who extend a handshake, "although I may not touch my face afterwards."

The Operation Gridlock campaign continues this week in Florida venues such as Tampa, Escambia County, Miami, and Fort Myers. A demonstration billed as a "Nationwide Protest to Reopen the Economy and End Tyranny" is scheduled for Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.