Wearing costumes, yelling chants and playing instruments, thousands of people filled up the sidewalks of East Ocean Boulevard to voice their disdain for President Donald Trump’s policies alongside support for California’s Proposition 50 Saturday morning.
Long Beach Indivisible organized No Kings 2.0 in the Bluffs, which is one of many locations across the United States protesting. People of all ages, backgrounds and varying reasons to denounce the current administration united onto one goal: to show their voice to opposition.
Kristen Hill, one of many protestors in Long Beach, said she couldn’t stay silent.
“It’s incredibly insane what’s going on. It’s so un-American,” Hill said. “This is what democracy is all about and this is what we’re fighting for and this is what he’s [Trump] trying to take away.”
Attendees walked the streets of East Ocean Boulevard on the sidewalks and crosswalks while cars honked to show their support. Participants screamed, used tambourines and even a Shofar, a ram-style trumpet.
Sam was the veteran galvanizing his fellow protestors with the trumpet.
“I couldn’t just stay home with all the confusion going on in the White House and everywhere else so I came out to [do] my little part,” he said.
Jonathan Bay, one of the leaders of Long Beach Indivisible, said these demonstrations are a way to fight for every community under attack by the administration’s actions and policies.
“We are showing a stand against Trump; that he doesn’t get to just unilaterally do things and ignore the constitution,” Bay said. “Our immigrant neighbors, our LGBTQ folks, institutions, government workers — we’re in a shutdown right now and he [Donald Trump] is getting paid, but many of our local people are not getting paid.”
Crowd members chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, ICE and Trump have got to go” as they marched and showed their frustration.
Lana Black said No Kings 2.0 is a way to make people feel included amidst a divisive administration.
“We the people are strong together and united we stand and divided we fall,” Black said. “We all have a voice that’s equally included.
Christy Elam said elected officials need to stand up and be stronger.
“They can make the change happen so we need to keep fighting for that. We’re not backing down,” Elam said. “We’re not going to let the past repeat itself.”
After the No Kings 2.0 protest in the Bluffs, protestors moved to Bixby Park, where they sang songs and listened to inspiring and uniting speeches from guest speakers such as mayor Rex Richardson, former professional football player Chris Kluwe, Anthony Bryson and Mariana Franco among other speakers.
No Kings 2.0 protests will continue in Downtown Los Angeles from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 200 N. Spring St.
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What a beautiful story! Our daughter lives in LBC next to Bixby Park and we get to visit periodically. Lovely place. We enjoyed your work
The man harassing people at the protest is well known in Long Beach. He is a threat to people’s safety. Is there a way you can write a post about him? His name is Alula Negus. There have been post on Nextdoor, Reddit, TikTok and Facebook with multiple people saying that he is violent and aggressive towards then (mostly women) he was also arrested a few months ago for chasing people with scissors and his behavior is escalating .