On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of protesters walked out of school and off the job to march in downtown Los Angeles nd decry President Trump’s actions during his first year back in office.
The “Free America Walkout” at Los Angeles City Hall was among dozens of rallies taking place across Southern California and the nation. The event was coordinated by the Women’s March and intended to demonstrate opposition to violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, the increased presence of military personnel in cities, Trump’s harmful immigration policies toward families and escalating attacks on transgender rights.
Hundreds of protesters marched along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Among the slogans on their signs: “Democracy doesn’t fear protest, dictators do” and “We choose freedom over fascism.” Meanwhile, similar marches took place in Burbank, Long Beach and Santa Monica. Scores of students at Garfield and Roosevelt high schools in East L.A. ditched class to join the downtown rally.
“I just don’t know if he’s [Trump] actually done anything that is positive,” downtown protester Mario Noguera told ABC7 News. “Everything’s been about depleting everything: resources, rights. I just don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere.”
The walkout took place on the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, an event he commemorated with a nearly two-hour news conference in which he called his first year in office “an amazing period of time” where his administration accomplished more than any other in history.
“We have a book that I’m not going to read to you, but these are the accomplishments of what we’ve produced, page after page after page of individual things,” Trump said, holding up a thick stack of papers. “I could sit here, read it for a week, and we wouldn’t be finished.”
Among the list of accomplishments he touted were his tariffs, his immigration crackdown, the economy and his actions in Gaza and Venezuela.
The Free America Walkout began at 2 p.m. in cities across the U.S. and was designed to differ from mass weekend actions such as the No Kings protests by deliberately taking place during the workday.
Organizers said that whereas protests demonstrate collective anger, walkouts demonstrate collective power.
“A walkout interrupts business as usual,” organizers stated. “It makes visible how much our labor, participation, and cooperation are taken for granted — and what happens when we withdraw them together.”
In downtown L.A., protesters condemned the effects of ICE raids locally as well as in Minneapolis, where a federal agent recently shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a wife and mother.
This month, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Los Angeles as part of the “ICE Out for Good” weekend of action, a national protest movement in response to Good’s killing.
Roxanne Hoge, chair of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, criticized the stream of local anti-Trump protests Tuesday.
“Their boring, predictable tantrums are now part of the L.A. landscape, much like the dilapidated RVs and dangerous encampments that their policies result in,” Hoge told the Los Angeles Daily News. “We are interested in good governance and public safety, and wish our Democrat friends would join us in advocating for both.”