WASHINGTON • Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a prime political target in partisan clashes over stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus outbreak, has signed three executive orders to reinstate a state of emergency during the coronavirus pandemic.

Her order on Thursday came on a day when protesters, some of them armed, gathered at the state capitol in Lansing to oppose stay-at-home orders.

State Senator Dayna Polehanki, a Democrat, shared a photograph of protesters with rifles inside the building, as well as a video of hundreds of people outside.

The governor's moves, which put into place a new state of emergency through May 28, were in response to the Republican-led legislature's refusal to extend the original emergency declaration on the day it was set to expire. Republican lawmakers have tried to strip the governor of powers to declare a state of emergency, which underpins the stay-at-home order.

Michigan has had more Covid-19 deaths than every state in the US, except New York and New Jersey.

"By refusing to extend the emergency and disaster declaration, Republican lawmakers are putting their heads in the sand and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk," Ms Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I'm not going to let that happen."

Critics have emphasised that the economic shutdown was affecting livelihoods. The demonstration was reminiscent of a larger gathering in Lansing on April 15, when thousands of protesters mobilised by conservative groups created a traffic jam on the streets around the Capitol.

NYTIMES