In record-breaking numbers, people showed up hoisting home-made signs, waving flags \u2014 some upside down, some flourished with peace signs or the universal symbol for no. They rallied across the U.S. and beyond, including in Australia, Italy, France and Great Britain.<\/p>\n
Organizers estimated over 8 million people in the U.S. alone took part in the third \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest Saturday, beating the last one by a million.<\/p>\n
People protested not one thing but many, ranging from the war in Iran to high gas prices, immigration and ICE, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti \u2014 and even the demolition of the East Wing of the White House.<\/p>\n
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson was dismissive if not mocking of the protest, saying \u201cthe only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the North Coast, Saturday\u2019s protesters totaled over 2,800, including 755 in Manzanita, 300 in Cannon Beach, 550 in Seaside and 1,200 in Astoria, according to Indivisible North Coast Oregon officials.<\/p>\n
Laurie Caplan, one of INCO\u2019s founders, said she was not surprised by the large number of attendees.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these people know we deserve better,\u201d Caplan said. \u201cTrump is ruining the country and the planet \u2014 and that\u2019s why we\u2019re all here.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Astoria, the No Kings protest included two factions: INCO and North Coast Action. People lined Marine Drive on the south side of the street from 31st to 34th streets, while another group was spread out from the Custard King corner at 16th Street to well past 20th Street. In some places, the crowd of protesters was clustered three people-deep. Many also stationed themselves along the north side of Marine Drive. <\/p>\n
The sun was shining in a nearly cloudless, blue sky on an unusually warm spring day and there was a party-like atmosphere along the route. People banged on pots and pans, clanged bells and drummed drums. Huge bubbles floated in the air while protesters waved and smiled at passersby, who mostly honked in support. <\/p>\n
There were some who also showed their disapproval by \u201cflipping the bird\u201d or purposefully revving their engines loudly as they drove past.<\/p>\n
Most of the protesters waved flags or held home-made, hand-written signs that indicated why they were there. \u201cThey want 1939 Germany, They\u2019ll get 1789 France,\u201d one said. <\/p>\n
Others were short and to the point: \u201cNo Faux King Way,\u201d \u201cHealth care not warfare,\u201d and \u201cSend ICE to Iran.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mark Erickson was one of 10 to 15 people there on security detail. Erickson, who\u2019s lived in Astoria for 40 years, said he had not seen or had to deal with any trouble. Everybody was \u201cpositive and happy and gentle with each other,\u201d Erickson said. All the security people had walkie talkies and had undergone specific training through INCO, he said, where \u201cwe discuss dangerous scenarios and how to protect people from being injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erickson, a retired elementary and high school teacher \u2014 he taught special education for 18 years at Lewis & Clark Elementary and six years at Astoria High School \u2014 said he was also there to help people get safely across the street.<\/p>\n
Alan Quimby and Kace McDowell from Svensen came to the protest with their dog, Pearl, who was dressed up in a frog \u2018fit. Quimby said he was protesting \u201cto get rid of Trump,\u201d and McDowell said she was there \u201cto make our country great \u2014 the way it used to be. We\u2019ve been doing this (protesting) since Trump was elected the first time. We took a break when Biden came in. \u2026 We probably shouldn\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the Statue of Leber-ty,\u201d said Janice Leber, dressed as the lady herself. \u201cLeber is rebel spelled backwards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jane and Josh Donnelly of Astoria said the reason they were at the protest was because of \u201cthe continuing nightmare we find ourselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joyce Balint from Warrenton, also dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she felt compelled to be at Saturday\u2019s event \u201ccause I\u2019m scared, really scared about the direction this country is going \u2014 toward authoritarianism. I want my country back \u2014 Robert DeNiro said that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Native Astorian Linda Orr said her family has been here for four generations. \u201cI\u2019m scared and I\u2019m mad. And coming up on our 250th birthday to celebrate our democracy \u2014 are we going to have one? What\u2019s to celebrate? I never thought I\u2019d live in a corrupt third-world country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andy Coll was dressed in a Tony the Tiger costume \u201cto show support.\u201d Bobby Thurman said he was at the protest because everything\u2019s gotten \u201ckind of stupid and out of bounds. \u2026 It\u2019s a lot of things. And the Democrats are not doing anything to keep (Trump) in check.\u201d<\/p>\n
Megan Goin was at the protest with her son Cedar, 12. She said she was there because of \u201ceverything that\u2019s happened to our country. We\u2019re living in unprecedented times. \u2026 Protesting is a civil right, you have to exercise it if you oppose what\u2019s happening.\u201d Cedar, who said he agreed with his mom, held a sign that said: \u201cMy mom is making me do this because she says someday this will be a core memory.\u201d <\/p>\n
Caplan said while she has not received any outright threats from people opposed to INCO\u2019s messaging or protests, \u201cI\u2019ve gotten a couple of anonymous letters that said they were ANGRY \u2014 in all caps.\u201d But she said she is not fearful. \u201cI don\u2019t think any of us is going to back down in the face of threats with so much at stake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s scary for everybody,\u201d Caplan said, referring to Democrats and Republicans alike. \u201dI like civil rights. The current government seems to be against anybody who doesn\u2019t bow down and worship it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julia Hesse, INCO coordinator, said \u201cprotests work,\u201d and this one may be especially effective. \u201cWe need to apply this pressure right now when Trump is so weak.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Measha Porter of Hammond was the first to arrive at the protest site across from Safeway. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, she had set herself up in a folding chair with a blanket across her lap, ready to \u201cshow up\u201d for the next few hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m tired of the stuff Trump is doing with the gas price, Social Security, Medicare, everything with ICE. I\u2019m against all the stuff Trump is doing,\u201d Porter said. \u201cAnd he ruined the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope something good comes from all of this,\u201d Porter said. \u201cI hope Trump realizes we\u2019re not going to let what he is doing stop us. We\u2019re gonna keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In record-breaking numbers, people showed up hoisting home-made signs, waving flags \u2014 some upside down, some flourished with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-553351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}