NBC News reports that a driver hit at least four “No Kings” demonstrators in San Francisco several hours ago. They reportedly suffered “non life-threatening injuries.”
The driver, who has yet to be identified, fled but was ultimately detained, according to the outlet. Authorities are investigating the event as a “as a possible intentional act,” NBC News said, citing three sources.
The hit-and-run unfolded shortly after 12 p.m. local time.
Thousands of people showed up to Minnesota’s state capitol Saturday afternoon, a show of strength after shootings targeted two state lawmakers, killing one legislator and her husband.
Crowds stretched for blocks, with protesters carrying signs that said “no kings,” “I thought this was America,” “chinga la migra,” “Ice belongs in my horchata, not in my city,” and “nobody paid us to be here.” American flags dotted the rally, as did Palestine flags.
On the main stage, organizers mentioned the tragedy, saying how it strengthened their resolve and underscored the importance of gathering together.
Perry McGowan carried a sign with the names of the two lawmakers, Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman, and a red heart. Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in a shooting. Hoffman and his wife were gravely injured.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he’s optimistic Hoffman and his wife will survive. Officials said they believe the shootings were politically motivated. The suspect, Vance Boelter, remains at large.
McGowan arrived this morning after news broke about the shootings. He attended a protest near his house earlier today, and then came to the capitol to rally with a larger crowd.
State police and the governor warned people to avoid demonstrations after the shootings out of an abundance of caution, but McGowan said safety concerns wouldn’t keep him away. “We all know, for Americans, that democracy doesn’t come with a guarantee of safety, and that you fight for that kind of thing,” he said.
“We are all affected by not just by political violence, but all violence in our lives. And there’s way too much of it – way too much gun violence, way too much television hate, way too much inhumanity to your neighbors, and we need to push back on that and to contribute civility to our common good.”
The Guardian’s Tom Silverstone, who is in Washington DC, has spoken with protesters who are demonstrating against Trump’s military parade. One protester compared Trump to North Korea’s despotic leader, saying: “He wants to be like Kim Jong Un.”
NBC News reports that a driver hit at least four “No Kings” demonstrators in San Francisco several hours ago. They reportedly suffered “non life-threatening injuries.”
The driver, who has yet to be identified, fled but was ultimately detained, according to the outlet. Authorities are investigating the event as a “as a possible intentional act,” NBC News said, citing three sources.
The hit-and-run unfolded shortly after 12 p.m. local time.
We’re starting to see some numbers trickle in for protest attendance.
New York City police said that 25,000 marched down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, according to NBC News. In Philadelphia, the crowd totaled 80,000 at its peak, the outlet said.
Los Angeles has seen more than 20,000 demonstrators, authorities said. San Diego officials said that “20k +” demonstrators gathered downtown.
Protesters in San Diego have largely left the downtown area, police said, but the events were peaceful and as of an hour ago, there were “no arrests.”
Lois Beckett, reporting from LA, spotted signs that incorporated pop culture references in protest of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Some of the many anti-Trump and anti-Ice signs in LA specifically call out Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller has been known for anti-immigrant rhetoric since his time as a student at Santa Monica high school, Beckett reports.
One of the signs called Miller “Santa Monica’s Disgrace”. Another called him “Miller Low Life”.
Not long ago in Philadelphia, near the steps of the Museum of Art, the Georgia state representative Ruwa Romman spoke about a need to push back on authoritarianism. She said that the crackdown on protesters and illegal detention demonstrated a “re-emergence of fascism, because we have seen a lot of this before. Nothing happening today is new.”
She was there to remind herself and the public that they weren’t alone, she said. “Everything that we see around us is a choice,” Romman said. “And it is a choice that we can make differently. My fury comes from the reality that the people who make the world better are actively choosing not to.”
Opposition to the administration works, she said. The Trump administration, who “ripped families apart”, she said, has shifted who they are targeting for deportation due to protest.
“Right now is the moment to insist on our rights. Right now is the moment to push back on anyone, anyone who attempts to normalize this in any way,” Romman said. “Now is the time to loudly remind those around us, as close as they are and as far as they are, that none of this is normal.”
She encouraged the public to consider their role in three things: their community, local politics, and taking care of themselves. Romman implored people to support their food banks and to build a support system, to get involved in school board hearings, and to pace themselves as they protest.
“Too many people want to silence people like us,” Romman said. “But now is the time to stand up to them and say, you will not make us cower in fear.”
At the “No Kings” protest in downtown Los Angeles, the mood was “playful and energetic”, the Guardian’s Lois Beckett reports. Los Angeles police, as well as the national guard, have remained mostly out of site.
“As the crowd repeatedly chants: ‘Ice out of LA,’ many protesters are carrying variations on ‘Fuck Ice’ signs, including multiple versions of the already-popular: ‘I like my horchata warm because Fuck Ice,’” Beckett says.
Another sign includes: “I like my America like I like my wine … no ice” and the simple: “Warm margaritas because Fuck Ice.”
Several hours before Donald Trump’s military parade was to start, about 300 people marched to the White House in protest of his policies.
The demonstration, planned by the group Refuse Fascism, was separate from the No Kings protests being organized nationwide, which did not plan an event in the capital.
Protesters were escorted by police through downtown Washington DC, chanting: “Fascist America, we say no! Now’s the time for Trump to go!” They carried signs reading: “No to Trump’s fascist military parade” and “If you don’t want criminals in the country, don’t elect them!”
Army veteran Chris Yeazel was among the protesters, and said he came out in reaction to Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles, and to his speech to army soldiers at Fort Bragg, which has been criticized for its partisan tone.
“America does not do military parades like this,” said Yeazel, 40, who served in Iraq. “Everything is just authoritarianism. He’s try to create chaos and become a dictator.”
Of the decision to hold the protest, he said: “this is the nation’s capital. This is exactly where we need to protest.”
While “No Kings” protests at Georgia’s capitol unfolded without police confronting demonstrators, police dispersed a protest with smoke and tear gas in a suburban neighborhood that is home to a high concentration of Hispanic residents.
At least 5,000 people arrived to Liberty Plaza in Atlanta, and another 5,000 in Tucker, near a large shopping mall on LaVista Road, filling the parking lot. Many marchers in Tucker were drawn by posts by Indivisible and 50501, two activist groups organizing the rally. The march concluded without arrest or confrontation with police.
This was not the case on Chamblee Tucker Road a couple of miles away, where DeKalb County Police and the Georgia State Patrol dispersed protesters with tear gas and smoke grenades. The area around Chamblee Tucker Road and I-285 northeast of Atlanta has a large Latino population, reflected in the relatively youthful and ethnically diverse composition of demonstrators there.
Police similarly broke up demonstrations in Brookhaven earlier this week, with six arrests made on Buford Highway, an area famed for its immigrant community here. Protesters were demonstrating against recent ICE arrests in the community.
Texas officials said they have “identified a credible threat toward state lawmakers planning to attend” a “No Kings” demonstration at the state capitol Saturday, the Associated Press reports.
Texas department of public safety officers closed the capitol building and nearby grounds, requiring the public to evacuate. The protest is expected to start in approximately two hours, but the grounds are still closed. Some officers have told people to stay away.
Ericka Miller, a spokesperson for Texas’s department of public safety, did not say when or whether the area would reopen. Miller did not provide any more information about the threat, saying it remained under investigation, per AP.
“DPS has a duty to protect the people and property of Texas and is continuously monitoring events occurring today and their impact on public safety across the state,” Miller said.
Minnesota’s congressional delegation has spoken out about the killing of state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, early this morning. State senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot, but are expected to survive; officials said the incidents appeared to be politically motivated attacks.
“Today we speak with one voice to express our outrage, grief, and condemnation of this horrible attack on public servants. There is no place in our democracy for politically motivated violence,” the delegation said in a statement. “We are praying for John and Yvette’s recovery and we grieve the loss of Melissa and Mark with their family, colleagues, and Minnesotans across the state. We are grateful for law enforcement’s swift response to the situation and continued efforts.”
From Philadelphia
Major and Rusty Jackson, who said that they were appalled by the past five months of Trump’s presidency, were among those demonstrating in Philadelphia today. Major, 71, said that he was there to protest everything that Trump has done over the past several decades, “including not letting Black people rent his apartments in New York, and arresting people for no reason just because they’re people of color”.
It was important for Rusty, 70, to show up to express her concern about threats to democracy. “If you don’t stand up and make your voices heard, then change won’t happen,” she said. “What he’s doing is shredding our constitution, our government.”
As an honorably discharged air force veteran who served in the Vietnam war, Major said, the military parade hit close to home: “Being a veteran during the Vietnam era, I know a couple of guys who died in combat to fight for the things that Trump is destroying now.”
Rusty saw Trump’s decision to allow billionaire Elon Musk to head the so-called “department of government efficiency” as potentially illegal.
Major said: “He’s our elected president, but I don’t respect him as a viable president. Period.”
Although Minnesota officials urged protesters to stay home after a state lawmaker and her husband were killed in a shooting early this morning, thousands arrived at the state capitol for a “No Kings” demonstration Saturday afternoon.
The Guardian’s Rachel Leingang reports that there have been signs recognizing the murder of state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and honoring them, at the protest in St Paul. State senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot early this morning.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz said that Hortman and her husband had been killed in what appeared to be a “politically motivated assassination”. He described the attack on Hoffman and his wife as “an act of targeted political violence”. Walz also said he was “cautiously optimistic” Hoffman and his wife would survive.
One speaker at the St Paul rally said they recognized authorities’ warning but told the crowd: “We have to stand up in the face of evil.”
Despite Donald Trump’s vow to use the military to “liberate” Los Angeles from street protesters, the 700 marines dispatched on his orders to the city of angels were nowhere to be seen downtown or at any of the other LA-area demonstrations on Saturday.
A line of about 15 national guard members stood in camouflage uniforms at the top of a flight of steps at the main entrance to city hall, facing a crowd of several thousand people gathered in a large park across the street. A line of metal barriers at the bottom of the steps kept the closest demonstrators at least 25ft (7 metres) away.
A few blocks to the east, California national guard members were seen patrolling the federal courthouse and detention center, the scene of last Sunday’s first big street protest, which was called after Trump deployed the guard without the consent of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
Overall, the security presence downtown was light, with police cruisers parked several blocks from the protest and a single Los Angeles police department helicopter patrolling the skies. Highway patrol cruisers blocked a handful of freeway exits but traffic otherwise flowed normally.
The federal courthouse and federal office building, which saw tense standoffs this week between demonstrators and police firing flash-bangs and foam rubber bullets, were secured with nothing more than yellow police tape.
The only detachment of marines spotted in LA since Friday has been at a federal office building 10 miles away in West LA, where no protests are scheduled.
In an early morning news briefing, the LA police chief, Jim McDonnell, said he was working with his law enforcement partners to safeguard people’s right to protest and to keep them safe. “Let me be very, very clear,” he said. “If you’re here in Los Angeles today to make your voice heard through peaceful demonstrations, we are here to protect you.” No federal officials attended the briefing.
Melissa Hellmann, who’s on the ground in Philadelphia, spoke with protesters who came out to support immigrants – and to voice their opposition to Trump. Hellmann reports:
Shortly after 12.30pm, thousands of people poured out of Philadelphia’s Love Park. Though it was a relatively quiet march, a line of police with bikes stood across the street from the park. In the slight drizzle, people held umbrellas and signs that said “Dump Trump, melt Ice”.
Victor, a 56-year-old chef originally from Argentina, held a hand-painted sign that depicted President Donald Trump as a pig, with “Oink” painted atop his image in large letters. Victor was gifted the sign from another protester during a rally outside Philadelphia’s city hall when Trump was first elected in 2016.
He arrived in the US from Argentina as a child and watched his parents work hard to make a better living for their family. “Other people have the right to work hard and make a life for themselves when they come from a country where they can’t do that or are facing political oppression or are desperate,” he said. “This is supposed to be the land of opportunity and a land built on immigrants.”
He was disappointed by the military parade happening 123 miles (200km) away in Washington DC. “It’s a perverse show of power unnecessarily,” Victor said, adding that he hopes that the opposing protests in other states will catalyze elected officials to take notice of the public’s dissatisfaction with the Trump administration. “For the most part, the administration is pushing forth an agenda,” Victor said, “and people have been asleep at the wheel.”
Marching near him, 67-year-old Margaret Grace waved an American flag. “The secret-police aspect of this is terrifying,” Grace said, referring to the plainclothes Ice agents detaining people in public, “even to an old white lady like myself”.
While Grace was uncertain that today’s protest would bring forth significant change, she was hopeful that it would inspire more peaceful protests where people expressed dissatisfaction with the Trump administration. The past five months of his presidency, she said, had been marked by “chaos and that’s how he does things. Throws out some crazy stuff, sees what sticks and then backtracks.”
As hundreds of thousands are expected to participate in “No Kings” rallies across the US today, demonstrators have also convened near President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.
The Washington Post reports that more than 1000 protesters walked across the causeway from West Palm Beach toward Mar-a-Lago on Saturday morning. They chanted “USA!” and displayed American flags, as well as signs that read “No Kings.” Police stopped the group approximately 900 ft from Mar-a-Lago. The dozens of officers, from local and state departments, stood in a line across the sidewalk, to prevent them from getting any closer, the newspaper said.
The protesters turned around, and walked back to West Palm Beach. There was a mere “handful” of Trump supporters, according to The Post.
Photos on social media show the protest.
Thousands of people have begun demonstrating across the US as part of the “No Kings” protests. Millions are expected to turn up for events against the Trump administration at roughly 2,000 sites nationwide.
A Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband were killed, and another Democratic state lawmaker and his wife were shot, in the early hours of Saturday.
Police are searching for the suspected gunman. The Associated Press is reporting the shooter is a 57-year-old man.
Minnesota police are urging people to avoid “No Kings” demonstrations in the state after flyers for the protests were found in the suspect’s vehicle.
Both Democrats and Republicans were quick to condemn the violence in Minnesota, with Donald Trump saying in a statement “such horrific violence will not be tolerated”.
Protests are still getting under way across the US.
And later, Trump will attend a military parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the US army – which happens to coincide with his 79th birthday.
Back to Los Angeles for a moment – my colleagues on the west coast have been tirelessly covering the LA Ice protests all week. As Andrew pointed out, the flags in LA have become a major component of the protests and the back-and-forth between demonstrators and the Trump administration.
But what do they really mean?
My colleague Robert Mackey unpacked the meaning of the foreign flags at the LA protests. In brief:
Observers with a more nuanced understanding of the Los Angeles communities being targeted in these raids, and of the nation’s history as a refuge for immigrants, suggest that the flags are not intended to signal allegiance to any foreign government but rather to signal solidarity with immigrants from those places and, for Americans with roots in those countries, to express pride in their heritage.
You can read more about the foreign flags in Robert’s explainer:
Law enforcement officials are searching for a 57-year-old man suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, officials told the Associated Press (AP).
Two people familiar with the matter identified the suspect being sought to the AP as Vance Boelter. The people could not publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
