FROM SAN FRANCISCO’S PACIFIC SHORE to the Bay Area hills, thousands marched and rallied to protest President Trump and his policies in the third national “No Kings” Day.
Organizers said tens of thousands were drawn to the nonviolent events Saturday in San Francisco, Oakland, Mendocino, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, San Mateo, Concord, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek, among others.
Progressives were joined by trade unionists, civil rights and church groups, the League of Women Voters and immigrant activists. Some called for an end to the war in Iran, mass detentions and masked immigration agents; others focused on fair elections.
On the sand at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, hundreds of protestors formed a human banner spelling out in letters 80 feet high, “TRUMP MUST GO NOW!”
Arrayed beneath the main message, tarps two feet wide read: “NO ICE,” “NO WARS,” “NO LIES” and “NO KINGS,” flanking an American flag.
Along Market Street, the main march in San Francisco drew an array of demonstrators. A skateboarder sped down the street waving a large pink, blue and white transgender pride flag.
Allusions to history
Some of the messages were simple — “Impeach Trump” — while others required a second glance.
“They want 1939 Germany, they got 1776,” said a sign carried by Bella Parks, a 17-year-old junior at Maybeck High School in Berkeley.
She came to the protest because “young people need to actually stand up,” Parks said.
She said she was cheered by seeing “everybody together, excited to make a change as a community.”
Her father, Dale Rose, carried a sign that said, “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”
Bella’s mother, Michaela Parks, said the crowd seemed joyful and expressive. “Everybody was pretty chill,” she said.
Down the street, Elizabeth Zieser, 36, a registered nurse from San Francisco, carried a sign recalling a German minister’s postwar confessional over not speaking out against the Nazis.
“First they came for the immigrants, and I said, like hell you are,” said the sign displayed by Zieser.
Tim, a 28-year-old from Seattle, carried a black tuba-like sousaphone whose bell towered two feet over his head.
“Is this actually helping?” he said. “I wish there was more I could do.”
