Coronavirus: Right-wing anti-lockdown protest hailed by Trump featured disturbing ‘hang Fauci’ sign

US president praises ‘great people’ at demonstration in New York

A disturbing sign calling for the hanging of the White House’s top infectious diseases expert featured at a rally repeatedly praised by Donald Trump.

The protest in New York on Thursday against coronavirus lockdown measures made headlines when a local television news reporter received sustained abuse from demonstrators there.

The reporter, Kevin Vesey, posted footage of the incident on Twitter, which was shared thousands of times and eventually by the US president himself, who retweeted it multiple times.

“People can’t get enough of this. Great people!” Mr Trump tweeted on Saturday in support of the protesters, many of whom were the president’s supporters.

Though the sign calling for the execution of Dr Anthony Fauci did not feature in the social media video, it appeared in a TV report by Mr Vesey for News 12 Long Island.

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“Hang Fauci, hang Gates, open up all our states,” reads the sign, which is shown to the camera by a male demonstrator.

The threatening message references Dr Fauci and Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft founder who has sounded the alarm on pandemics and has become the centre of unfounded conspiracy theories among some on the far-right about Covid-19.

Protester holds disturbing sign at anti-lockdown rally (News 12 Long Island)

Some of these activists claim, contrary to any evidence, that Mr Gates is part of a global scheme to hype the dangers of the disease and gain financially from finding a vaccine.

Dr Fauci has also been the target of anger from some Trump supporters due to his repeated warnings about the dangers of ending lockdown measures too early and his willingness to counter misinformation emanating from the White House.

The protest in Commack, Suffolk County, on Thursday was organised by a group of Trump supporters who called themselves the Setauket Patriots, and backed by a branch of the Oath Keepers, a radical right-wing organisation associated with the militia movement.

As of Saturday, Suffolk County had suffered a confirmed 1,733 deaths from coronavirus – the ninth-worst figure in the entire country – and almost 38,000 confirmed cases.

The White House has been contacted for comment.