Thousands Rally across US in Renewed Protests against Trump Policies
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Demonstrators took to the streets of major US cities on Saturday in a second wave of protests against President Donald Trump, voicing opposition to his immigration policies, attacks on democratic norms, and cuts to science and health funding.
Thousands of protesters gathered in New York, Washington, and other cities nationwide for a second major round of demonstrations against President Donald Trump and his administration’s hard-line agenda.
In New York, demonstrators assembled outside the city’s main library, holding signs with slogans such as “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.”
Protesters criticized Trump’s immigration enforcement actions, chanting, “No ICE, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
In Washington, concerns centered on the perceived erosion of constitutional protections.
“The administration is carrying out a direct assault on the idea of the rule of law and the idea that the government should be restrained from abusing the people who live here in the United States,” said Benjamin Douglas, 41, speaking outside the White House.
Douglas, wearing a keffiyeh and holding a sign demanding the release of pro-Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, said individuals were being targeted as “test cases to rile up xenophobia and erode long-standing legal protections.”
Kathy Valy, 73, a New York protester and daughter of Holocaust survivors, said the rise of Trump echoed what her parents experienced in Europe.
“We are in great danger,” she said. “The one thing is that Trump is a lot more stupid than Hitler or the other fascists. He’s being played... and his own team is divided.”
In Baltimore, Daniella Butler, 26, a PhD student in immunology at Johns Hopkins University, criticized cuts to public health and science funding.
She carried a map of Texas dotted with references to the state’s measles outbreak.
“When science is ignored, people die,” Butler said, pointing to Trump’s health adviser Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who has promoted discredited claims linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
In the conservative state of Texas, a small anti-Trump rally was held in Galveston.
“This is my fourth protest and typically I would sit back and wait for the next election,” said Patsy Oliver, 63, a writer. “We cannot do that right now. We’ve lost too much already.”
On the West Coast, several hundred people gathered on a San Francisco beach to spell out “IMPEACH + REMOVE,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Nearby, some held an upside-down US flag, a traditional symbol of distress.
Saturday’s demonstrations were organized by the group 50501, which stands for 50 protests in 50 states and one movement.
According to its website, the group planned about 400 protests nationwide as a “decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”
The group emphasized that all protests must remain non-violent.
While organizers called for millions to participate, the turnout appeared smaller than the “Hands Off” protests that took place across the country on April 5.
