Political leaders in Kentucky denounced protesters as "sickening" and "terrible" after they hung Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, in effigy at the state capitol on Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that Americans have the right to peacefully protest, but added that the protesters’ "actions were unacceptable. There is no place for hate in Kentucky."
The state’s Republican Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, called the hanging “sickening,” while state Rep. Joni Jenkins, the Democratic floor leader, called it a "terrible, terrible act."
Video showed a man in military-style fatigues tying a doll with a photo of Beshear’s face attached to it and a noose around its neck to a tree. In video published by a local freelance journalist, Gerry Seavo James, the song “God Bless the USA” can be heard playing in the background.
The gathering began as a Second Amendment rally, but morphed into a protest against coronavirus public health measures, NBC affiliate WLEX reported.
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