More than 100 Inland Empire residents waved signs, held U.S. flags and yelled rally chants Monday near Riverside City Hall in protest of President Donald Trump and his administration’s actions since the start of his second term.
The demonstrators said they were alarmed by the many executive orders the president had signed in recent weeks, especially those they believed were targeting women’s rights, birthright citizenship and diversity in the workplace.
“Democracy is in danger,” said Gladys Talleys, a history teacher from the High Desert. She said she decided to participate in the protest because she believes the Trump administration was willfully ignoring the Constitution.
“We need to do something, we need to say something, we need to wake people up,” she said.
The protest was just one of many Presidents’ Day rallies scheduled across California under the banner “No Kings Day” by its organizers, a nationwide collective called the 50501 Movement — which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement. The online group promoted a similar protest on Feb. 5, calling citizens to rally against Trump’s actions in front of each state’s capitol building.
To raise awareness of the Feb. 17 downtown protest, local organizers said they created a 50501 Movement-inspired page for the Inland Empire, handed out flyers and cross-promoted the rally in collaboration with other activist social media pages.
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Like other demonstrators at the event, Jose Buenrostro said he learned about the protest from social media. He said he decided to participate because of Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric and push to increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the country.
“I think this is just us making a statement that we’re not going to willfully bend over when people’s rights are being infringed upon,” Buenrostro said. “That’s what we’re here to fight against.”
The protest started around noon and the rally-goers stood at the intersection of Main Street and University Avenue for several hours as motorists honked as they drove past. Some held signs referencing Trump’s felony convictions, calling on him to be arrested, while other signs opposed the appointment of billionaire Elon Musk as an advisor to the president.
Alex Gonzalez, a protestor at the event, held two American flags and a sign that stated: “Reclaim the American Flag.” He said that he felt the nation’s flag was tied to Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” slogan and he wanted to reconnect it to his political ideals.
“Someone told us that they saw all the American flags and they were a little hesitant. They weren’t sure they were at the right protest,” Gonzalez said. “We’re Americans, we’re exercising our constitutional rights, and we shouldn’t be afraid to wave it.”
The protest was held just blocks away from where Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco officially announced his run for governor an hour prior. Last year, Bianco published a video endorsing then-presidential candidate Trump and later defended his post by stating the country was better under Trump’s first term.
“What do I think about the sheriff running? I am against that,” Carlos Granados, a protestor who had been demonstrating for several hours, said. “I think that’s going to take a step backward.”
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