by Ila Bell | Special to the Courier

More than 200 demonstrators took to the corner of Indian Hill and Foothill boulevards Friday afternoon to participate in a national shutdown protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity that has led to the death of eight people since the start of the year, including the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

People held signs, flags and whistles and lined the four corners of the busy intersection, while passing cars honked in support.

The national movement led by students at the University of Minnesota calls for “No work. No school. No shopping.”

Rancho Cucamonga resident Daphne Glass commuted joined the protest against.

“This administration has just gone overboard,” she said. “I’ve lived here my whole life, and even though some of the tactics are not new, because as an African American woman, we have seen these tactics before, they’re blatant now.”

The protest was a continuation of weekly demonstrations against the Trump administration at the intersection led by Indivisible Claremont/Inland Valley.

A 17-year-old Claremont resident who declined to give his name was among the counterprotesters at Friday’s national shutdown demonstration in Claremont.
Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Kimberly Amini is one of those who started the weekly protests nearly a year ago.

“I think the whole community has just been galvanized by the ICE brutality in Minneapolis,” Amini said. “And I hope that the Trump administration is understanding that the more brutal and lawless they get, the bigger the pushback is going to be. But we, unlike them, are peaceful.”

Friday’s turnout far surpassed the group’s typical weekly attendance.

“We’re going to continue for as long as necessary,” Amini said. “And by the way things are going, I’m sure it’s going to be necessary for at least the next three years.

Marcia Tudor has been protesting just as long, and has also been collecting food to donate to Lopez Urban Farms in Pomona.

“The Trump folks are finally beginning to recognize that we aren’t going away,” Tudor said. “The people, the heroes in Minneapolis, are just so brave, and if they can be out in the streets, we certainly can be out in the streets.”

Tudor said she hopes the protests will continue to grow in Claremont and nationwide.

“It’s not a one-time thing,” she said. “If you can have that many activists, then it improves your chances of making the regime change.”

Claremont resident Jim Bawek was sitting in a lawn chair with his dog and a sign that read “melt ICE.” He has been coming to the weekly protests for three months.

“I think we need to be very strong, peacefully, and to show the present leaders that this is not the way we should live in this country, or how we should treat people,” Bawek said. “I hope to see a real change with ICE. I do not want to see a militarization of our country; I want to see our states continue to step up, our courts continue to step up, and to have a democracy that we’re accustomed to.”

Bell is a sophomore writing and sociology student at Scripps College and is originally from Montana.