Anti-Trump protesters rally in New York, Washington and elsewhere across the country
NEW YORK AP Opponents of President Donald Trump s administration took to the streets of communities large and small across the U S on Saturday decrying what they see as threats to the nation s democratic ideals The disparate events ranged from a march through midtown Manhattan and a rally in front of the White House to a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of the shot heard round the world on April marking the start of the Revolutionary War years ago Thomas Bassford was among the demonstrators at the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord outside Boston The -year-old retired mason from Maine explained he believes Americans are under attack from their own establishment and need to stand up against it This is a very perilous time in America for liberty commented Bassford who was with his partner daughter and two grandsons I yearned the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom In Denver hundreds of protesters gathered at the Colorado State Capitol with banners expressing solidarity with immigrants and telling the Trump administration Hands Off People waved U S flags certain of them held upside down to signal distress Thousands of people also marched through downtown Portland Oregon while in San Francisco hundreds spelled out the words Impeach Remove on a sandy beach along the Pacific Ocean also with an inverted U S flag People walked through downtown Anchorage Alaska with handmade signs listing reasons why they were demonstrating including one that one that read No sign is BIG enough to list ALL of the reasons I m here Elsewhere protests were planned outside Tesla car dealerships against billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk and his role in downsizing the federal executive Others organized more district service-oriented events such as food drives teach-ins and volunteering at local shelters The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations Organizers say they oppose what they call Trump s civil rights violations and constitutional violations including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal governing body by firing thousands of leadership workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies Specific of the events drew on the spirit of the Revolutionary War calling for no kings and resistance to tyranny In Anchorage a colonial reenactor in colonial garb held up a No Kings sign while the person next to him hoisted cardboard that read in part The Feudal Age is OVER Boston resident George Bryant who was among those at the Concord protest stated he is concerned that the president is creating a police state He held a sign saying Trump fascist regime must go now He s defying the courts He s kidnapping students He s eviscerating the checks and balances Bryant mentioned This is fascism In Washington Bob Fasick a -year-old retired federal employee from Springfield Virginia mentioned he came out to the rally near the White House out of concern over threats to constitutionally protected due process rights Social Guard and other federal safety-net programs The Trump administration among other things has moved to shutter Social Assurance Administration field offices cut funding for cabinet soundness programs and scale back protections for transgender people I cannot sit still knowing that if I don t do anything and everybody doesn t do something to change this that the world that we collectively are leaving for the little children for our neighbors is purely not one that I would want to live Fasick noted In Columbia South Carolina several hundred people protested at the statehouse holding signs with slogans such as Fight Fiercely Harvard Fight And in Manhattan protesters rallied against continued deportations of immigrants as they marched from the New York Populace Library north toward Central Park and past Trump Tower No fear no hate no ICE in our state they chanted to a steady drumbeat referring to the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement Marshall Green declared he is majority of concerned that Trump invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of by claiming the country is at war with Venezuelan gangs linked to the South American nation s governing body even though a latest U S intelligence assessment exposed no coordination between them Congress should be stepping up and saying no we are not at war You cannot use that disclosed the -year-old from Morristown New Jersey You cannot deport people without due process and everyone in this country has the right to due process no matter what Meanwhile Melinda Charles of Connecticut stated she worries about executive overreach citing clashes with the federal courts Harvard University and other elite colleges We re supposed to have three equal branches of regime she noted and to have the executive branch become so strong I mean it s just unbelievable
