Several thousand demonstrators lined the streets of downtown Columbia Saturday as part of the “No Kings” rallies across the country protesting President Donald Trump and his actions.
Republican politicians had sought to portray the demonstrators in advance as people who “hate America.” But dozens of the hundreds of homemade protest placards pushed back on those attacks with signs like the one that said, “We the People Love America.”
The White House and Trump supporters also sought to characterize the rallies as potentially violent paid protests by the radical left. But like much of Howard County, the peaceful Columbia protesters skewed markedly white, older suburban professionals, including the retired with walkers and canes, though there was the town’s typical wide range of ethnic and racial diversity and plenty of parents holding hands with young kids and with little ones in strollers.
One man on Little Patuxent Parkway held up a sign: “Not a paid protester. I hate Trump for FREE.”
The event kicked off with speeches at the Chrysalis stage in Symphony Woods with speeches from Democrats Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Sarah Elfreth.
One of the president’s fiercest critics, Van Hollen stirred up the crowd with a rabble-rousing speech decrying Trump’s actions to cut funds for education, health care and research, reward his fellow billionaires and silence his opponents.
Van Hollen said: “This is not the America we want. That is not the America we fight for… I can’t tell you how heartened I am to see all of you and millions of Americans coming together today. People who love our country. People who respect the constitution…. All of you are patriots who say we are not going back to the days of King George. We do not bow down to kings. No kings.”
Here is a gallery of photos from the event focusing on the signage.
MarylandReporter.com photos by Len Lazarick under Creative Commons License
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