Hundreds of protesters, some armed, gathered inside Michigan’s state capitol on Thursday as state lawmakers debated the Democratic governor’s request to extend her emergency powers to combat coronavirus. A tightly packed crowd of protesters, some carrying rifles, attempted to enter the floor of the legislative chamber, and were held back by a line of state police and capitol staff, according to video footage posted by local journalists. “Let us in! Let us in!” the protesters chanted, as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder inside the statehouse. Few of them were wearing face masks. Some of the protesters shouted anti-government slogans, including comparing the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, to Hitler. One Democratic state lawmaker posted a photograph of men with rifles standing in a gallery yelling down at lawmakers below. “Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them,” the state senator Dayna Polehanki wrote on Twitter. Police allowed several hundred protesters to peacefully enter the capitol building around 1pm, where they crammed shoulder-to-shoulder near the entrance to legislative chambers. The slow reopening of state economies around the country has taken on political overtones, as Republican politicians and individuals affiliated with Trump’s re-election promoted such protests in electoral swing states, such as Michigan. State legislative approval of Whitmer’s state of emergency declaration, which gives her special executive powers, is set to expire after Thursday. Republican lawmakers in control of the statehouse who want to see a faster economic opening have signaled they could reject her request. Regardless, Whitmer’s stay-at-home order is set to continue through 15 May. “Governor Whitmer, and our state legislature, it’s over with. Open this state,” Mike Detmer, a Republican US congressional candidate, told the crowd. “Let’s get businesses back open again. Let’s make sure there are jobs to go back to.” People had their temperature taken by police as they entered. Inside, they sang the national anthem and chanted: “Let us work.” Police made only one arrest at the protest, Lt Brian Oleksyk, a Michigan state police spokesman, said. A 35-year-old male protester was arrested for assaulting another protester outside of the capitol building. While there was “a little bit of pushing” by protesters inside the building, Oleksyk said, “after verbally protesting for an hour, things calmed down.” It’s legal and allowed to openly carry firearms inside Michigan’s state capitol building. Other speakers at the event, which had different organizers than the Operation Gridlock protest, questioned the deadliness of Covid-19. They also said Whitmer’s stay-at-home order violated constitutional rights, and urged people to open their businesses on 1 May in disregard of her order. The mayor of Lansing, Andy Schor, said in a statement on Wednesday that he was “disappointed” protesters would put themselves and others at risk, but recognized that Whitmer’s order still allowed people to “exercise their first amendment right to freedom of speech”. Whitmer has acknowledged that her order was the strictest in the country, but she defended it as necessary as Michigan became one of the states hardest hit by the virus, having already claimed 3,789 lives there. Protesters, many from more rural, Trump-leaning parts of Michigan, have argued it has crippled the economy statewide even as the majority of deaths from the virus are centered on the south-eastern Detroit metro area. Many states, including Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Ohio, have already moved to restart parts of their economies following weeks of mandatory lockdowns. Reuters contributed to this report