Chicago City Wire

About 500 protestors are expected to descend upon Pritzker’s Pavilion on Saturday, from 1-3 p.m., in a peaceful demonstration against Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s shutdown orders.

“We are coming together to say that we need to open Illinois,” organizer Ashley Ramos said. “We need to let people get back to having their livelihood and creating positive interaction. We're doing that by having representatives speak and we're also hosting a food drive.”

The Stop the Lockdown Coalition event will convene at the Michigan and Madison entrance of the pavilion and feature Digger CEO Gary Rabine as a speaker.

Ashley Ramos | Provided

“We're going to have food boxes there so that people who participate in the rally who have been displaced from their jobs or are having problems right now can grab a box if they need that extra assistance,” Ramos told the Chicago City Wire.

While the Chicago Tribune reports that in-door dining at restaurants continues to be prohibited into the new year, on Jan. 4 Gov. Pritzker extended mask and social distancing restrictions another 150 days to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to Illinois Policy.

"We want Pritzker to understand that if he wants to be a positive part of healing in Illinois, he has to listen and take into consideration the demands of the people,” Ramos said in an interview. “He is an elected official, which means he's supposed to be working for us. If we make demands, he should be trying to work with the needs of the people while staying within the law and doing what science says is best. We haven't seen a lot of that.”

As of Friday, Jan. 8, there were roughly 1 million coronavirus cases statewide, resulting in 17,272 fatalities, according to the Illinois' COVID-19 dashboard.

To Ramos, the coronavirus is no longer an excuse.

“Science shows that we can open the economy safely,” she said. “The vaccine is being distributed, and people have that opportunity. There's no reason that we should have these shutdowns and closures that we have.”

According to NBC Chicago, 207,106 people have been vaccinated statewide and another 3.2 million Illinois residents will be vaccinated under Phase 2 of Restore Illinois.

“We haven't seen [Chicago] Mayor Lori Lightfoot or Gov. Pritzker talk about the vaccine in a positive light,” Ramos said. “There has been no hopeful communication from our elected officials about getting the economy rolling. The only time you ever hear anything from our elected officials is when they want to dictate something or tell you about a new mandate. That's not acceptable anymore. It has to stop.”