'What Democracy Looks Like'

Editor:

Several thousand people attended the “No Kings” demonstration in Eureka, on Saturday. It was truly awesome!

Over a thousand also attended the rally at Madaket Square. At 12:30 p.m., the crowd began marching to the courthouse, instructed to stay on the sidewalks and observe signals.

My granddaughter and I were near the front of this march and patiently waited for green at each street crossing. It was slow going. We arrived at the courthouse, and inched our way through the already huge crowd, watching the rest of the rally attendees slowly arrive.

Then, we saw a wall of demonstrators coming down the middle of Fifth Street. Clearly, the mass of people had taken the street! A few drivers were caught behind the crowd, but a Eureka bicycle policeman quickly escorted them to a mid-block alley to get over to Sixth Street. I could see that two California Highway Patrol cars had parked across Fifth Street, at F and G streets, directing 101 traffic to bypass the demonstration. They remained in place for the next couple of hours, and we were all able to be safe and comfortable, although still very crowded, occupying the roadway in front of the courthouse.

I want to thank the Eureka police and highway patrol for respecting the First Amendment rights of the demonstrators “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Three thousand to 4,000 protestors in Eureka! Five million nationwide! Cooperation with law enforcement. This is what democracy looks like!

Dave Meserve, Arcata