Protesting President Donald Trump, large crowds of people crowded into streets, parks, and plazas across the United States on Saturday. They marched through small towns and downtowns while yelling anti-authoritarian slogans and expressing support for defending democracy and immigrant rights.
How did law enforcement respond to the demonstrations?
There were only a few confrontations. However, after the official event concluded, police in Los Angeles, where protests against federal immigration enforcement sweeps began a week earlier and inspired demonstrations nationwide, deployed crowd-control munitions and tear gas to remove demonstrators. Police in Portland fired tear gas and missiles to disperse a gathering of demonstrators who had congregated in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility well into the evening.
Additionally, police in Salt Lake City, Utah, were looking into a gunshot that occurred during a downtown march and left one person seriously hurt.
According to Police Chief Brian Redd, three persons were arrested, including a guy who was shot and thought to be the gunman. Redd said it was too soon to determine whether the shooting had a political motive or whether the participants knew one another. He stated that the gunman seemed to be strolling with the thousands of others who were rallying. As bullets rang out, protesters were seen fleeing for their lives on video feeds.
How large were the protest turnouts across major cities?
In Denver, New York, Chicago, Austin, and Los Angeles, large, raucous groups marched, danced, drummed, and sang together, with some of them carrying banners that said “no kings.” Thousands more people gathered outside barricades to listen to speakers in front of the state Capitol as Atlanta’s event, which had a 5,000 capacity, soon hit its maximum. According to the Seattle Times, officials in Seattle estimated that over 70,000 people attended the largest demonstration in the city’s downtown.
In Logan Circle in northwest Washington, some 200 demonstrators gathered and screamed, “Trump must go now,” before cheering. Wheeled through the throng was a life-size puppet of Trump, a parody of the president sitting on a gilded toilet and wearing a crown.
What symbols and slogans did protesters use nationwide?
In some locations, organizers distributed little American flags, while others displayed distress by flying their flags upside down. Some demonstrations on Saturday also featured Mexican flags, which have been a common sight during protests against immigration sweeps in Los Angeles.
As demonstrators were leaving a demonstration in Culpepper, Virginia, a 21-year-old motorist purposefully sped his SUV into the throng, according to police, striking one person. The motorist was accused of driving recklessly.
The protests follow those against Trump’s plan to send the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, where demonstrators stopped a freeway and set vehicles on fire, and against federal immigration enforcement operations that started last week.
The No Kings Coalition released a statement Saturday afternoon after many activities had concluded, saying, “Today, across red states and blue, rural towns and major cities, Americans stood in peaceful unity and made it clear: we don’t do kings.”
