by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

A boisterous, multi-generational crowd estimated between 3,000 and 3,500 lined the intersection of Indian Hill and Foothill boulevards March 28 for the third “No Kings” protest, many carrying signs, some banging drums, chanting and singing, and most all raising their voices.

The March 28 “No Kings” protest drew multiple generations, including this youngster toting a sign with a simple message. Photo/by Jessie Cadenas

Saturday’s nationwide protest drew some 8 million people to more 3,300 cities throughout the country.

The local protest was organized by volunteers with Indivisible Claremont/Inland Valley Action Group. Among them was Victoria Bhavsar, who cited opposition to the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, the so-called “SAVE Act” which would require federal election voters to produce a passport or birth certificate at polling places, and the tactics and funding of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as driving forces for the event.

“We’re out here because Trump has scuttled efforts to try to make things right,” Bhavsar said. “We’re out here honestly because the overall issue is that Trump wants what he wants, and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass who he hurts getting it — and that is not what America should be about.”

Eighteen-year-old Glendora resident Courtney Yuen was among the hundreds of young people at the protest.

“I’ve had a family here that had immigrated to America, and that is at least in my opinion what it should stand for: freedom, opportunity and so much hope,” she said. “As I’ve been raised, I’ve been super lucky, and I think that my life wouldn’t be the way it is without immigrants in my life. I feel like I want to build a place where it’s safe for those people to come here and to live happily. Even if you don’t have any family that’s immigrants or people that you know that are actually struggling directly, I think it’s just really important to raise a generation with empathy and sympathy for other people. That’s how kindness really starts.”

Armed with a paper hatchet and a sign, 11-year-old Lulu Blue of Claremont had a simple message: “Get Trump out, get ICE out, and cut down the prices.”

Prior to the protest volunteers from ICE Out of Pomona, Refuse Fascism, and Pomona Valley Spiritual Leaders unfurled large signs with various protest slogans atop the 210 Freeway’s Mills Avenue overpass in Claremont.

“We’ve been saying that elections aren’t going to stop fascism. Trump and his regime are fascist, that means they’re going for a more repressive form of rule in this country,” said Alessandro Morosin, a member of Refuse Fascism. “And it’s up to the people to act while we still can to say we refuse to accept this fascist agenda in the name of humanity.”

With a bell and megaphone, 78-year-old Pomona resident Dianne Goodwin said she was speaking up “to make people realize Trump was a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes, let’s go on and make this right. This just going on from day to day with this lying, all of the other criminal behavior he does, is insane. It’s totally insane. … I just hope that I see him gone before I’m gone.”

Protester Kurt Geyser, 58, of Claremont, had pointed criticism of the attack on Iran.

“F**k these fascists,” he said. “They just want a carte blanche to pump and dump the entire American people with their bulls**t and stay in power. We’re doing [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s] bidding because Israel has lobbied this government enough over the decades that they have made both Democrat and Republican beholden. They have made their psychological, propagandistic weapons like antisemitism into a sword against the people who speak out against them.”

Messages were conveyed in a variety of ways at Claremont’s March 28 “No Kings” protest, including by parakeet. Photo/by Jessie Cadenas

Pomona resident Sharon Womack, 69, said of Trump, “He’s got to go. He’s a so-called billionaire, but, you know, he’s authoritarian. I don’t know who he thought he made him king. He is nothing.”

Sabrina Perez, 61, of Covina, said, “Our democracy is in trouble. We need to get a hold on it and make sure that we don’t lose it. This is for our children, our grandchildren, our future of America. We just need to have some kind of normalcy back to our United States and not all this chaos.”

Protester Jaime Gutierrez said, “We are a democracy. We’re run by the people. We have no kings. That whole nepotism and the bourgeois patriarchy, it’s dead, it doesn’t work, and we don’t want anything to do with it.”

“I think people need to pay attention to what’s going on,” said ICE Out of Pomona volunteer Jay Pinsack. “I want people to care about what’s happening to their neighbors. I want people to think of ways that we all can contribute to bringing awareness to breaking the regime.”

Pomona resident Sharon Womack makes her voice heard at Saturday’s “No Kings” protest.
Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Darya Harris was among demonstrators from ICE Out of Pomona, Refuse Fascism, and Pomona Valley Spiritual Leaders for Justice that unfurled various signs on Saturday, including “ICE Out of Pomona,” atop the 210 Freeway’s Mills Avenue overpass. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Many of the 3,000-3,500 protesters at Claremont’s “No Kings” rally focused on the Trump administration’s attacks on the First Amendment. Photo/by Jessie Cadenas

A boisterous, multi-generational crowd estimated between 3,000 and 3,500 lined the intersection of Indian Hill and Foothill boulevards in Claremont March 28 for the third “No Kings” protest, which drew more than 8 million people nationwide. Photo/by Jessie Cadenas

Along with Indivisible, organizers for the nationwide protests also included Swing Left and 50501.