A significant number of protesters expressed, this Saturday, October 18, their anger against Donald Trump throughout the United States, from New York to San Francisco, during a great day of national mobilization demonized by the right, which criticizes a movement of “hate against America.”
Rallying around the slogan “No Kings,” millions of Americans are expected to take to the streets to protest the Republican president’s “authoritarian takeover,” organizers said.
More than 2,700 meetings planned
“It is urgent that everyone mobilize and do everything possible to resist the fall of democracy that we are experiencing,” insists Hannah Foster, 41, an employee of a jewelry company present in the procession of several thousand people that left at noon in New York from the famous Times Square.
“I fear that the United States will become, as it already is to some extent, a very cruel, dishonest and authoritarian regime, where people’s dignity and rights are no longer respected,” adds Colleen Hoffman, a retiree.
More than 2,700 demonstrations are planned for the day in all American states, from large cities to rural areas, as well as in several foreign countries such as Canada and Spain.
In Washington, the capital, a large demonstration was also held near Congress, in which the crowd unanimously urged Donald Trump to “leave”, while in Florida, protesters brandished signs showing the president dressed as Stalin and the Queen of England near his Mar-a-Lago residence, where he is spending the weekend.
“I am not a king”
Although he had threatened in June to respond to protesters with “very strong force,” the president did not comment until this week on Fox News: “They call me king. I’m not a king.”
But several leaders of his party even compared the protesters to terrorists.
Speaking of a “hateful mobilization against the United States,” the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, stated: “I bet you will see supporters of Hamas and Antifa,” in reference to this political movement recently classified as a “terrorist organization” by the president.
Ignoring this rhetoric, several protesters on Saturday displayed incongruous costumes of penguins, frogs or even hippos, others proudly brandished the American flag.
Unrest since his return to power
In mid-June, a first day of mobilization organized by the “No Kings” collective, which brings together some 300 associations, brought together millions of people of all ages, the largest protest since the Republican’s return to the White House.
On the same day, Donald Trump celebrated his 79th birthday with a military parade in the streets of the American capital.
Since returning to power in January, Donald Trump has upset America’s democratic balance by encroaching on the powers of Congress and the states and threatening his opponents with legal retaliation.
“He completely violates the law and the Constitution,” Ashley, 37, a protester gathered in the Forest Hills district of New York, told AFP.
This new day of mobilization comes in the midst of a budgetary paralysis of the federal state and while Donald Trump has deployed soldiers in several Democratic strongholds to, according to him, fight against illegal immigration and crime.
A call to protest conveyed by Kamala Harris
As a sign of protest, several parades will be held in cities to which the National Guard has been sent, such as Chicago or Los Angeles, where organizers plan to parade with a giant balloon that represents the American president as a child and wearing a diaper.
“Don’t let Donald Trump and the Republicans intimidate you and silence you,” Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer’s leader urged early Saturday in a message on X.
A call to demonstrate also conveyed by the failed 2024 presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, and the Hollywood star, Robert De Niro.
Source: BFM TV
