BROOKFIELD -- City of Brookfield police on Monday, April 20 issued a statement following a large protest Saturday, April 18 against the extension of Governor Tony Evers' "Safer at Home" order amid the coronavirus pandemic. Police said while there were no arrests, one person was referred to the Waukesha County District Attorney's Office on disorderly conduct charges. Additionally, police noted protecting citizens' First Amendment rights while also enforcing laws and protecting people's safety is "a balancing act."
Police said of the approximately 1,000 who gathered Saturday afternoon to protest the extension of the stay-at-home order, one person was referred for disorderly conduct charges after throwing a glass bottle of hot sauce from a passing vehicle. No one was struck or injured.
The full statement from police is below:
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The protesters Saturday said the extension of the "Safer at Home" order to May 26 has gone too fa,r and now is the time to re-open parts of the state. The order was originally set to expire on April 24.
Protesters said they have had enough with the order's limits on business, gatherings and day-to-day life, and they want Gov. Evers to re-open the state's rural areas now and get people back to work.
"We need to get our economy back in line, and we can certainly do it on a cautious basis," said Dave Schimmels of Kewaskum.
"You quarantine the people that are vulnerable. You quarantine the people that are sick. You don't limit everybody's freedoms," said Susan Richards of New Berlin.
Along Bluemound Road outside of Brookfield Square, passing drivers honked their horns in support as hundreds lined the street -- ignoring social distancing guidelines -- holding signs demanding that the order be lifted, saying Gov. Evers does not have the power to extend the order.
"You can see it from all the states around us -- he overextended this well beyond everybody else," said protester Paris Procopis. "I don't know. It's almost like a power trip."
Though Gov. Evers' powers regarding the matter expire on May 11, the order was actually extended at the governor's request by Andrea Palm, secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Health Service, whose power is not limited.
"The data tells us that 'Safer at Home' is working, and the science of the virus tells us what the path ahead needs to look like," Palm said.
State officials said that the path ahead holds more social distance, testing and eventually, a gradual re-opening.
FOX6 News reached out to the governor's office for comment on the protest, but they did not respond. Wisconsin Republicans plan to appeal the extension to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.