Thousands of anti-Trump protestors gathered outside Los Angeles City Hall Monday morning, using the federal holiday to denounce the current Commander-in-Chief’s policies, as part of a nationwide “Not My President’s Day” rally.
The holiday, which honors previous presidents, was what organizers called an ideal opportunity for the public to demonstrate against everything Donald Trump stands for.
Protestors oppose building a wall along the Mexican border, his hard-line stance against illegal immigration, a temporary ban on refugees from several predominantly Muslim, Middle Eastern countries and his approval of the Dakota Access pipeline, which Native Americans say violates peace treaties and contaminates sacred waters on their land.
At least 4,000 people signed up to attend the Los Angeles rally, according to the event’s Facebook page.
Despite a damp morning in the wake of an L.A. deluge, a crowd of hundreds was already forming Monday morning outside City Hall.
“I don’t believe the president is listening, but I’m hoping the Republicans are listening because they want to be voted back in,” said Diane Matranga, 59, from Anaheim. “Sure. He was voted in by the electoral college but not the people. I don’t think he represents the people. He definitely doesn’t represent my views.”
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The crowd, outside the front steps of City Hall, facing Grand Park, numbered in the thousands.
Demonstrators chanted: “We the people! Free Press!” and held up signs like “United We Rise, Divided We Fall.”
Trump, organizers said on the event’s Facebook page, “has attacked every value Californians embody and does not represent. “He does not represent our interests. He was voted in by a minority of the American public but governs as if there’s no resistance.”
Monday’s rally followed a string of protests held since Trump was elected, including a Free the People march in Los Angeles in support of immigrants’ rights on Saturday and an I Am Muslim Too demonstration in New York City on Sunday. New York, Chicago, and other cities also planned to hold “Not My President’s Day” rallies as well.
At 11 a.m., protestors in Los Angeles were asked to Tweet out #notmypresident in unity with those in other cities.
Since Trump was elected president in November, several national petitions have circulated that call for his impeachment, including one on Change.org, which has 223,380 supporters.
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