The entrance to the closed Allen Park in Ottawa was a quiet one at noon Monday despite a “Reopen Illinois” rally planned at the park to protest stay-at-home orders.

Ottawa Police Capt. Mike Cheatham was wearing a mask and standing beside a couple of tow trucks and a sign letting the public know the park was closed. Access to the boat ramp, however, remained open

The area only had passing vehicles and a couple of honks from cars, but those were in support of police.

“Thank you so much for closing it off!” one driver said as they passed by.

Cheatham said the police have no issues with protesters, but the park was closed down by the City Council, and online chatter from the protest group suggested they may shut down Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Illinois River, linking downtown to the city’s south side.

“We wouldn’t stop anybody from speaking their mind or giving their opinion,” Cheatham said. “But we knew if the event there was something at the bridge, instead of us reacting to it, we figured we would take the proactive step and be in place to get it open as soon as possible with as minimal of obstruction as possible.”

Police had no official contact with protesters during the scheduled start time.

Cheatham said police have worked with protesters in the past to ensure they are able to exercise their right to freedom of speech without endangering others and adhering to city rules, but was unable to make contact with the event’s organizer.

A couple of vehicles were parked nearby conversing with each other and identified themselves as those looking to protest when asked by The Times.

Ottawa resident Dan Meagher drove by with an American flag and a President Trump flag from his windows a few times before pulling over when he saw the police barricade. He said the Trump flag was to show support for the country and its leader during a national crisis.

He heard about the event online and wanted to take part because he believes some of the limitations in place are infringing on his rights.

“I believe that in certain instances the government is maybe overstepping their bounds in this and infringing on people’s rights to assemble and other things,” Meagher said.

As an example, he noted police allowed those looking to go boating past the barricade but himself, a fisherman, would not be allowed to do the same.

“All things being equal, my tax dollars go to maintaining this park so why am I not allowed as one individual person to go out there and fish off the bank,” Meagher said. “Do they not trust me enough to maintain the social distancing that they’re requiring?”

Meagher said he was not in support of the group organizer’s comments about shutting down the bridge since it could stop people from going about their day-to-day lives, the opposite of his interests in the protest.

Why were police concerned about Veterans Memorial Bridge?

The event was organized on Facebook by “Lee Gallagher,” but protesters Monday doubted he is from the area.

Gallagher originally created the event to “peacefully” protest the stay-at-home order but later posted on the page encouraging attendees to shut down Veterans Memorial Bridge.

“We urge you to close down the bridge both lanes from north to south to show government just how closure affects everyone. How do you like it when we close the only way from north to south and only bridge to cross to get north to southside,” Gallagher said on the page. “Same as businesses don’t like being told by unjust government to close, I am sure the city wouldn’t like it if we close the bridge on gridlock of cars supporting freedom.”

Gallagher later walked back that statement by saying it was never their intent to actually close the bridge but to instead garner attention.

They did receive the undivided attention of the Ottawa Police Department, which posted police vehicles and tow trucks at the entrance of Allen Park to block the area and free up the bridge if needed. Two additional police vehicles were posted to watch the bridge, and two to three more police vehicles and tow trucks were set up on the north side of the bridge.

Other police vehicles were available to take unrelated calls.

Cheatham said police would be willing to work with protesters should they want to demonstrate somewhere else, but still encouraged safe health practices as shared by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the La Salle County Health Department such as not gathering more than 10 people close together and maintaining 6-foot distance from one another.

Meagher said he was uncertain if another protest would be planned, citing relatively low turnout on Monday and poor organization.

The Times attempted to contact the organizer of the event on Facebook but received no messages in return. The Facebook page used to organize the event has since been taken off line.