As lockdown protests intensify, officials urge caution

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(SOUNDBITE) (English) COUNTER-PROTESTER :

"I'm not touching you. I can yell all I want..."

The heated debate over when to lift stay-at-home orders in the U.S. intensified on Monday, with crowded demonstrations popping up in more states, where protesters are demanding an end to the lockdown and - in some states - counter-protesters are confronting them.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) EXCHANGE BETWEEN TWO PROTESTERS:

MAN IN BLUE SHIRT: "I don't want people to die. [FLASH] It's money versus lives. Tell me how it isn't! I want to hear your point of view. [FLASH]

MAN WITH BEARD AND FACE MASK: "Because money--, money and jobs is how we all provide for our families. I'm a self-employed business owner. My wife and I started a business about 10 years ago. My business is being decimated, as we speak."

At this anti-lockdown protest in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Monday, hundreds of protesters - many wearing pro-Trump campaign gear and some carrying firearms - huddled together outside the state capitol building, saying their civil liberties have been infringed.

Last week, critics accused President Donald Trump of inciting protests with a series of Twitter posts on Friday calling for protesters to "LIBERATE" Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia, where he said the 2nd Amendment was under siege.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-LOCKDOWN PROTESTER LEANING OUT OF CAR, SAYING:

"Go to China!"

On Sunday, counter-protesters wearing medical scrubs stood in the middle of the road blocking a car carrying an anti-lockdown protester in Denver, Colorado.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-LOCKDOWN PROTESTER LEANING OUT OF CAR, SAYING:

"You go to work, why can't I go to work?"

Meanwhile, governors and state health officials have urged caution until more testing becomes available, warning that the country could face a second and even deadlier wave of infections if the lockdowns end prematurely.

At his daily news briefing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state is the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, said he understood why some people were protesting, but that it wasn't helpful.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO, SAYING:

"Nobody disagrees that we want to get out of this situation. Nobody. You don't need protests to convince anyone in this country that we have to get back to work. And we have to get the economy going and we have to get out of our homes. Nobody."

Cuomo said that before the state could reopen, testing capacity had to be ramped up and repeated a plea for federal help to do so.

In a series of tweets on Monday, Trump said governors had shifted from complaining about a scarcity of ventilators to griping about not having what they needed to ramp up testing, accusing them of "playing a very dangerous political game."