(Philadelphia) Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators invaded the United States streets, parks and places to protest against President Donald Trump before the military parade in Washington marking on Saturday 250e Anniversary of the army, which coincides with the president’s birthday.
Atlanta’s “No Kings” gathering (no kings), with a capacity of 5000 people, quickly reached its limit, thousands of demonstrators gathering in front of the Capitol to listen to the speeches. In Minnesota, the organizers canceled the demonstrations, the police trying to find a suspect in the murder of two Democratic State legislators.
A fine and intermittent rain fell when the demonstrators, signs in hand, gathered at the Love Park in Philadelphia. They chanted: “Who is the streets?” To us the streets! By heading towards the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where they listened to the speeches pronounced on the steps made famous by the film Rocky.
“So, Philly?” Shouted the American Democrat representative Jamie Raskin from Maryland to the crowd. Are you ready to retaliate? Do you want a gangster state or freedom of expression in the United States? »»
Photo Rachel Wisnietski, Reuters
Democratic representative Jamie Raskin in Philadelphia.
In places, the organizers have distributed small American flags, while other demonstrators have brandished more in the midst of signs of messages defending democracy and defense of immigrants’ rights to various anti-Trump feelings.
In Los Angeles, thousands of people gathered in front of the town hall, hundreds on the lawn in front of the Mississippi Capitol, and demonstrators in downtown Little Rock crossed a bridge over Arkansas.
Demonstrations were planned in nearly 2,000 places across the country, houses of houses and small towns in the markets of the courthouses and community parks, the organizers said, but no event is planned in Washington, where the military parade will take place in the evening.
Photo Jae C. Hong, Associated Press
Protesters parade in Los Angeles
The 50501 movement, which organizes the demonstrations, claims to have chosen the name “No Kings” to support democracy and denounce what it describes as authoritarianism of the Trump administration. The name 50501 means “50 states, 50 demonstrations, a movement”.
These demonstrations followed on those that broke out throughout the country following the raids of the federal immigration services that started last week and sending by Donald Trump of the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles, where the demonstrators blocked a motorway and burnt down to cars.
Thousands of people gathered in the city center of Philadelphia. The organizers distributed small American flags and many people wore protest signs on which slogans were inscribed such as “fight the oligarchy” and “expel the mini-mussolini”.
Photo Rachel Wisnietski, Reuters
Thousands of people gathered in the city center of Philadelphia.
Karen Van Trieste, a 61 -year -old nurse from Maryland, said he grew up in Philadelphia and wanted to meet among a large group of people to show him his support.
“I have the feeling that we have to defend our democracy,” she said. She is concerned about staff dismissals of the Centers for the Control and Prevention of Diseases (CDC) of the United States by the Trump administration, the fate of immigrant communities and the Trump administration attempts to govern by decree, she said.
A woman wearing a foam crown from the statue of freedom brought a system of speakers and sang an anti-top song, replacing the words “Young Man” (“young man”) of the song “YMCA” by “Con Man” (“Arnaqueur”).
A man dressed in a costume from the time of the war of independence and wearing a tricorne held a sign with a quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “For the tyranny to be established, it is enough that the people of good conscience keep silence. »»
Journalists from Associated Press from all over the country have contributed to this report.
