Despite the weather forecast and a packed social-event calendar on Saturday, several hundred people showed up under the theme “No Kings, No Oligarchs” to again protest President Trump and his administration’s actions in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka.
Humboldt Musicians for Peace provided an energetic soundtrack for the two-hour local version of national protests organized the first week of May by the organization 50501 — 50 States, 50 Protests, One Day. Participants in the protest were urged to bring food donations for Food Not Bombs and hundreds of dollars were raised for Centro del Pueblo through a bake sale.
Local organizers increased the number of volunteer protest marshals in yellow vests present at the event to help with traffic safety along Fifth Street crosswalks and sidewalks near the courthouse. Also present were a few volunteer “legal observers” from the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (who refused to answer any media questions about their role at the event).
According to news reports, another nationwide protest is scheduled for Saturday, June 14, the same day as President Trump is proposing to hold a military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., coinciding with his 79th birthday. The White House has said the purpose of the parade is to celebrate the “250th anniversary” of the U.S. Army, which happens to fall on the same day.
This article appears in From Garden to Table in the Hall.