Charleston, South Carolina – Thousands of protesters gathered in Greenville, Charleston, and Columbia over the weekend as part of a nationwide effort to raise concerns about President Donald Trump and his administration.
On the morning before Easter Sunday, hundreds of people cheered along Lockwood Drive in downtown Charleston.
Everyone came to express their concerns about the current administration.
In Columbia, several hundred people protested at the State House, holding signs that read “Fight Fiercely, Harvard, Fight.”
Thousands gathered in downtown Greenville on Saturday afternoon.
50501SC, IndivisibleUpstate, We The People Greenville, Our Revolution Greenville, Together Greenville, Tell Them Tuesday, and Democratic Women of Greenville County led the crowd on the Michelin Green at Unity Park, where they held signs and played live music.
Organizers reported that more than 2,000 people attended the two-hour event.
“To have this level of motivation, just by the general community, you can tell the people are done,” said organizer Michelle Shara. “The people are fed up and people have things to say, so I’m happy to be able to give them this outlet to say what they want to say.”
The protests occurred as opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration took to the streets of communities large and small across the United States on Saturday, condemning what they see as threats to the country’s democratic ideals.
The events ranged from a march through midtown Manhattan and a rally in front of the White House to a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of “the shot heard ’round the world” on April 19, 1775, the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
Even in South Carolina, a historically red state, protesters against President Donald Trump’s recent actions displayed posters, chanted, and discussed the country’s current political climate.
“It feels like we’re in a constitutional crisis right now where the president wants to take away checks and balances, take the power away from the judicial branch for himself, take the power away from the congressional branch for himself,” Coleman Watts, one of the Charleston demonstrators, said. “We want to restore those checks and balances; we want a democracy of representation for all.”
Protesters expressed dissatisfaction with both Trump and Congresswoman Nancy Mace.
“Their representatives don’t represent them. They won’t even attend meetings with us. “They won’t hear us,” protester Suzy Ravenel stated.
At the end of the day, hundreds of people in Charleston stood together in the hopes of bringing about change, not just in Charleston but throughout the country.
“We want everybody to be safe in this country. “We are America,” protest organizer Anne Ostapie stated.
Elsewhere across the country
Thomas Bassford participated in the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord outside Boston. The 80-year-old retired mason from Maine believes Americans are under attack by their own government and must stand up to it.
“This is a very perilous time in America for liberty,” said Bassford, who was accompanied by his partner, daughter, and two grandchildren. “I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”
In Denver, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Colorado State Capitol with banners expressing solidarity with immigrants and telling the Trump administration to “Hands Off!” People waved US flags, some held upside down to indicate distress.
Thousands marched through downtown Portland, Oregon, while in San Francisco, hundreds spelled out the words “Impeach & Remove” on a sandy beach along the Pacific Ocean, accompanied by an inverted US flag. People walked through downtown Anchorage, Alaska, holding handmade signs listing the reasons for their demonstration, including one that read: “No sign is big enough to list ALL of the reasons I’m here!”
In Anchorage, a colonial reenactor dressed in colonial garb held up a “No Kings” sign while the person next to him held a cardboard sign that read, in part, “The Feudal Age is Over.”
In Washington, Bob Fasick, a 76-year-old retired federal employee from Springfield, Virginia, said he attended the rally near the White House because he was concerned about constitutionally protected due process rights, Social Security, and other federal safety-net programs.
In Manhattan, protesters marched from the New York Public Library north to Central Park and past Trump Tower to protest the continued deportation of immigrants.
“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” they chanted to the steady beat of a drum, referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
