FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
As tanks and soldiers paraded through the streets of Washington on Saturday, millions of people across the United States came out to protest the excesses of Donald Trump's administration.
The protests, dubbed “No Kings,” took place in about 2,100 squares across the country, from major cities to small towns. A coalition of more than 100 groups came together to plan the protests, which are dedicated to the principle of nonviolence.
This week, Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to crush protesters demonstrating against increased deportations, defying state and local authorities in a show of military force not seen in the U.S. since the civil rights era. Interest in Saturday's protests grew, organizers said, including at a site near Trump's South Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
Organizers of the "No Kings" movement estimated that the day's events drew millions of people, with several hundred still taking place in all 50 states and in several cities abroad. These included over 200,000 in New York and over 100,000 in Philadelphia, plus several smaller towns with crowds sizable for their populations, including the town of Pentwater, Michigan, where 400 people joined the protest in their town of 800, the "No Kings" coalition said.
The protests were largely peaceful, although some of them - in Los Angeles and Portland - were later deemed to be unlawful assemblies by law enforcement and met with tear gas.
The day's events were also marked by political violence. There were two early morning shootings in Minnesota of two Democratic lawmakers, one of whom was killed along with her husband, in what local officials called a politically motivated attack. Police and the state's governor warned people not to attend demonstrations across the state "out of an abundance of caution."
Thousands of people gathered at the main protest in Minnesota, in the state capital, to make it clear that political violence would not silence them. The crowds stretched across blocks as people carried anti-Trump signs, some of them chanting the names of the lawmakers who were shot. On the main stage, organizers addressed the tragedy, saying how it strengthened their resolve and underscored the importance of coming together.
Perry McGowan held a sign with the names of two lawmakers — Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman — and a red heart.
“Ne të gjithë prekemi jo vetëm nga dhuna politike, por nga çdo dhunë në jetën tonë”, tha ai. “Dhe ka shumë dhunë, shumë dhunë me armë, shumë urrejtje televizive, shumë çnjerëzimi ndaj fqinjëve tuaj, dhe ne duhet ta kundërshtojmë këtë dhe të kontribuojmë me qytetërim në të mirën tonë të përbashkët.”
Në Teksas, zyrtarët thanë se kishin “identifikuar një kërcënim të besueshëm ndaj ligjvënësve të shtetit që planifikonin të merrnin pjesë” në një demonstratë “No Kings” në kryeqytetin e shtetit, raportoi Associated Press.
Ndërkohë, në Filadelfia, mijëra njerëz marshuan nga Parku i Dashurisë në orët e para të pasdites, duke mbajtur çadra dhe pankarta.
Viktori, një shef kuzhine 56-vjeçar me origjinë nga Argjentina, mbante një tabelë të pikturuar me dorë që e paraqiste Donald Trumpin si një derr, me mbishkrimin "Oink" të shkruar sipër imazhit të tij me shkronja të mëdha.
Ai u zhgënjye nga parada ushtarake që u zhvillua 200 km larg në Uashington DC . “Është një shfaqje perverse e fuqisë pa nevojë”, tha ai.
Në disa shtete të udhëhequra nga republikanët, guvernatorët kishin sinjalizuar paraprakisht se forcat e ligjit do të shuanin çdo protestë që ata e konsideronin të dhunshme.
Guvernatori i Teksasit, Greg Abbott, një republikan, vendosi gardën kombëtare të shtetit të tij për të menaxhuar protestat. Në Florida, guvernatori republikan Ron DeSantis tha se njerëzit mund të shtypnin ligjërisht protestuesit me makinat e tyre nëse ishin të rrethuar. “Nuk ke pse të rrish ulur aty dhe të jesh thjesht një patë e ulur dhe ta lësh turmën të të rrëmbejë nga makina dhe të të zvarrisë nëpër rrugë. Ke të drejtë të mbrohesh në Florida”, tha ai.
Edhe pse shumica e protestave kaluan pa incidente, disa prej tyre patën kërcënime dhe probleme sigurie.
Protestat “Pa Mbretër” në kryeqytetin e Xhorxhias u zhvilluan pa u përballur policia me demonstruesit, por policia shpërndau një protestë me tym dhe gaz lotsjellës në një lagje periferike ku banon një përqendrim i lartë i banorëve hispanikë.
Dhe në San Francisko, NBC News raportoi se një shofer goditi të paktën katër demonstrues të cilët thuhet se pësuan “lëndime jo kërcënuese për jetën”, ndërsa në Virxhinia një burrë drejtoi një fuoristradë përmes një turme dhe plagosi një protestues.
Në fillim të ditës, demonstratat u forcuan jashtë bashkisë së Los Anxhelosit, e cila ishte e mbushur me flamuj amerikanë. Pas një jave që zyrtarët e administratës Trump dhe aleatët e tyre kapën flamujt meksikanë të valëvitur nga protestuesit në rrugë të Los Anxhelosit dhe thanë se ato ishin simptoma të një pushtimi të huaj , shumë prej tyre sollën flamuj amerikanë nga shtëpia, duke i valëvitur ose duke i mbështjellë rreth shpatullave. Të tjerë i morën nga vullnetarët që i shpërndanin në vendet ku ndodhej tubimi.
Më vonë gjatë ditës në Los Angeles, një turmë u formua jashtë një ndërtese federale dhe filloi të brohoriste “Largohu nga Los Angeles!” ndaj anëtarëve të Gardës Kombëtare të vendosur jashtë dhe disa thuhet se hodhën sende drejt ndërtesës.
At 4 p.m., Los Angeles Police also declared an "unlawful assembly" for protesters who were outside the approved protest area, issued a dispersal order, and began firing tear gas and rubber bullets shortly thereafter. Most of the crowd quickly dispersed. Unlike the morning protests, there were more masked protesters in the evening.
In Portland, Oregon, federal agents also reportedly used tear gas against demonstrators outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility after they said protesters tried to break down the door.
The coalition did not hold a protest in Washington, D.C. — a deliberate choice to create contrast with the military parade and not give the president an excuse to suppress the peaceful protest. But a Washington-based organization organized a “Day of Joy in Washington, D.C.” in the district that will “celebrate the people, culture, and our connections to each other of Washington, D.C.”
A separate group of about 300 people, organized by Refuse Fascism, marched to the White House to protest. Army veteran Chris Yeazel was among the protesters and said he came out in reaction to Trump's troop deployment to Los Angeles and his speech to Army soldiers at Fort Bragg, which has been criticized for its partisan tone.
Trump initially said that people protesting against the parade would face "very large force," although the White House later sought to clarify that he was in favor of peaceful protests. Asked about the "No Kings" protests during a White House event on Thursday, Trump said, "I don't feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get things approved."
Since the start of his second term, opposition to Trump has grown, manifesting itself in protests and demonstrations, including those against Elon Musk at his car company, against deportations, and around his agenda of retaliation and government cuts.
The Harvard Crowd Counting Consortium, which tracks political crowds, found that there had been three times as many protests by the end of March 2025 as there were in 2017, during Trump’s first term, and that was before the big protests in April and May. The biggest day of protest so far came on April 5, with “Hands Off,” which the consortium estimated drew as many as 1.5 million people, a lower figure than organizers had cited.
“Overall, the 2017 figures pale in comparison to the scale and scope of mobilization in 2025, a fact that is often overlooked in the public discourse about the response to Trump’s actions,” said a new analysis from the consortium. /Adapted from The Guardian/
Lini një Përgjigje