Reopen Delaware holds rally at Rehoboth Beach Bandstand

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. – On Saturday, crowds of people some wearing masks and few social distancing gathered at the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand as part of a rally hosted by the group Reopen Delaware.

The group says they seek to reopen Delaware from what they believe to be excessive quarantine measures.

“We’re calling for peace and civility, even if there are counter-protesters and we just want to see Delaware get back to normal,” said Rich Bishop, event organizer.

Reopen Delaware says there needs to be an immediate lift to travel restrictions and the short term rental ban so that there are fewer people losing money and out-of-state property owners are able to visit their homes.

“There are numerous property owners down here that maybe have a second house or rental house that by the mandate are not able to visit their properties,” said Bishop.

The group says they’re also speaking for many business owners impacted by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, other people, we spoke to say these kinds of rallies are putting people’s lives at risk and that it isn’t fair that others aren’t following the safety guidelines.

“This is a war that we’re having that’s killing people, killing a lot of us and they don’t care about the USA,” said Anna Krouse, a Delaware resident.

“They’re calling, but they don’t care about me, they don’t care about you, because where are their masks?” said Krouse.

Despite concerns police tell 47ABC there were no major problems at the rally.

“We gave them a safe place to operate in to express themselves,” said Rehoboth Beach Police Chief Keith W. Banks.

“We do wish they were social distancing, but at the same time, it’s not worth getting into confrontation over hopefully in an hour and a half,” said Banks.

On social media, some people tell 47ABC these kinds of rallies are not safe and that they risk spreading the coronavirus to other people.

The group Reopen Delaware, on the other hand, says that beaches reopening are positive steps.