(AFP) – Huge crowds are expected to hit the streets Saturday from New York to San Francisco to vent their anger over President Donald Trump’s hardline policies at nationwide “No Kings” protests slammed by Republicans as “Hate America” rallies. More than 2,700 demonstrations are planned coast to coast, from big cities to small towns, and even near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is spending the weekend. Organizers say they are expecting millions to attend. Those numbers would match the massive turnout at similar events on June 14, Trump’s birthday and the day of a giant military parade in the US capital, in outrage over the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants and its deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles.
Since then, Trump — who returned to the White House in January — has ordered National Guard troops into Washington and Memphis. Planned deployments to Chicago and Portland, Oregon have so far been blocked in the courts. Demonstrators are also up in arms over Trump’s attacks on the media, prosecutions of his political opponents and a host of other actions they see as authoritarian. “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty,” the “No Kings” movement — which brings together some 300 organizations — says on its website.
A government shutdown is now in its third week, with the Trump administration firing thousands of federal workers and lawmakers showing little sign they are ready to break the impasse. “This president is a disgrace and I hope there will be millions in the street today,” Stephanie, a 36-year-old hospital worker who did not give her last name, told AFP in the Queens borough of New York, where hundreds had already gathered in the morning. Demonstrators carried colorful signs that read “Queens Say No Kings,” and “We protest because we love America and want it back!” Some chanted, “We love our country, we can’t stand Trump!” In Los Angeles, organizers plan to float a giant balloon of Trump in a diaper. They said they expect 100,000 people to attend.
So far, the Republican billionaire president’s response to Saturday’s events has been muted. “They’re saying they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he told Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures.” But his top surrogates were in more fighting form, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling the day of protest the “Hate America rally.” “You’re going to bring together the Marxists, the Socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat Party,” he told reporters. Republican lawmaker Tom Emmer also used the “Hate America” phrase and referred to participants as the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party.
Beyond New York and San Francisco, protests are scheduled in major cities such as Washington, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, and New Orleans, but also in small towns across all 50 states. The “No Kings” movement is even organizing events in Canada. Small protests took place in Malaga, Spain, and Malmo, Sweden. On Thursday, Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said protesters wanted to convey that “we are a country of equals.” “We are a country of laws that apply to everyone, of due process and of democracy. We will not be silenced,” she told reporters.
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the Indivisible Project, slammed the Trump administration’s efforts to send the National Guard into US cities, crack down on undocumented migrants and prosecute political opponents. “It is the classic authoritarian playbook: threaten, smear and lie, scare people into submission,” Greenberg said. Top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer encouraged demonstrators to let their voices be heard. “I say to my fellow Americans this No Kings Day: Do not let Donald Trump and Republicans intimidate you into silence. That’s what they want to do. They’re afraid of the truth,” he wrote on X. “Speak out, use your voice, and exercise your right to free speech.”
– Asad Hashim with Maggy Donaldson in New York
© 2024 AFP
