In lieu of Presidents’ Day celebrations, thousands gathered in Union Square to protest President Donald Trump. Protesters held signs criticizing policies and executive orders of his administration, like placing Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, in charge of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” (DOGE), a new government organization created by the second Trump Administration.
The event was organized by the non-violent direct action group Rise and Resist.
The group formed in response to Trump’s first election win and is “committed to opposing, disrupting, [and] defeating any government act that threatens democracy, equality, and our civil liberties,” according to their mission statement.
Photo by Dove Williams
Protesters held signs and banners with messages ranging from humorous, “If Trump was a toilet, I’d puke in the sink,” to more blunt and serious remarks, like “Be Gone Elon”. Protesters gathered in Union Square before marching south down Broadway, eventually stopping at Washington Square Park to join another protest group, organized by Refuse Fascism
Photo by Zachariah Yeh
New Yorkers crowded Union Square in order “to protect our right of assembly, our right of free speech, our right of peaceful assembly, to express our views and express our concern with what’s happening in Washington right now and how it’s impacting everyday Americans,” attendee Ariela Heilman said.
Photo by Dove Williams
Dr. Brian Hughes, the associate director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University, explained in an interview with the Guardian the similarities between Trump and a fascist leader: “Since the very beginning of the Trump campaign in 2015, there’s been a lot of denialism and a lot of whistling past the graveyard, but the symptoms keep adding up,” Hughs said. “Now we finally have stated policy goals of targeting political enemies, not just through lawfare, but also through violence and myriad other examples of plans to govern in a way that mirrors 20th-century fascism.”
While the protest was led by numerous activist organizations, many came simply in protest of the Trump administration rather than to support a specific group.
“I would say the bulk of people here came out to protest Trump. They didn’t come to follow any one organization,” co-initiator of Refuse Fascism, Andy Zee said.”We’re in the early stages of a fascist regime, but early stages that are moving very, very rapidly with tremendous consequence for the people of this country and the people of the world.”
“It’s important that we get out, that we stop the hate … we are getting our pockets picked and paying for it with hate towards other people, and it has to stop,” attendee James Hyde said.
Photo by Dove Williams
Protesters voiced their concern for the future of American democracy, referencing Donald Trump’s plans to abolish the Department of Education.
“We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis right now,” Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the law school at University of California, Berkeley said in a New York Times article. “There have been so many unconstitutional and illegal actions in the first 18 days of the Trump presidency. We never have seen anything like this.”
Trump recently signed an executive order that would revoke birthright citizenship, a constitutional right.
Zee went on to explain that the protest was about educating and uniting people. “The organization Refuse Fascism raises the slogan, ‘In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept the fascist America.’ And in that slogan, it can help people understand, who are we standing with? Who do we need to stand with? What’s our positive vision? It’s all with humanity.” Zee said.
Leave a Reply