A group of demonstrators gathered in Trenton on Tuesday to demand that Gov. Phil Murphy end the state shutdown designed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The demonstrators held signs that read “No Job. No Unemployment. No Welfare. Now What!”

Some Murphy critics say that the closing down of state parks, bars, restaurants, hair salons and tattoo parlors is akin to fascism and have referred to the governor as a dictator.

Murphy responded to the claims at Tuesday’s media briefing.

“This notion of fascism is ridiculous. We’re trying to save lives,” the governor said. “This isn’t a question of patriotism. This is a question of doing what’s right. Who’s a patriot, who isn’t. We’re in here trying to save lives every single day.”

Murphy previously came under fire when he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he “wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights” when he made his decisions regarding the lockdown. The governor later said that he chose his words poorly, but said that all of his decisions were made to protect New Jerseyans from the virus.

"This is America, and we all have First Amendment rights, I don't begrudge that at all, but I wish they would [protest] from home,” Murphy said Tuesday.

Polls have shown that a little more than 10% of New Jersey residents think the governor's executive orders have gone too far.

The governor, on Monday, unveiled his “Roadmap for Recovery” to end the lockdown. On Tuesday, he introduced the 21 members of a commission that will study how to reopen the state.