Protesters at a September 1 rally in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo: Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)
With much of the government shut down, the threat of health care cuts and ICE raids in tiny towns, numerous Trump administration protests are planned for Saturday in Ohio.
Government agencies have been closed since early October, and Republicans in Congress lack the votes needed to finance the operation.
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After taking controversial actions in places like ChicagoU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has upset residents of Mount Vernon in Knox County.
About 120 people protested on Sunday in the market following last week’s ICE raid on a beloved Mexican restaurant, news organization Knox Pages reported.
More protests will be held on Saturday.
Dozens of No Kings protests are planned throughout Ohio as part of over 2,500 events that will take place across the country.
“Building on the momentum of the June 14 rally, which attracted more than five million people in all 50 states, the October 18 mobilization represents the next chapter of this growing movement,” organizers said in a written statement.
“Together, millions will send a clear and unambiguous message: we are a nation of equals and our country will not be ruled by fear or force.”
The events are sponsored by over 100 organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, League of Women Voters, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Common Cause and Indivisible.
Mia Lewis is the associate director of Common Cause Ohio and a volunteer with Indivisible Central Ohio. She said 23 protests were planned in the area.
Rallies will be held in municipalities including Newark, Reynoldsburg, Marysville and Grove City earlier Saturday afternoon.
It will all then culminate with a rally at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus at 4 p.m.
Lewis said she hopes people will come to both.
“I think it’s really important that protests take place in the neighborhoods of residents,” she said.
“It’s not just about the number of people who come out. It’s about the number of people who walk by and see their neighbors, friends and fellow citizens taking a stand. I think that’s a really important message.”
At a time when the reach of conventional news organizations is withering, Lewis said it’s also critical that people take to the streets peacefully to try to highlight what’s going on.
For example, many people may not know that much of the shutdown battle is fought over health care subsidies.
“It’s hard because people have so much information,” Lewis said.
“But when people realize that their health care subsidies are going to disappear and they can actually afford health care; when they see that there are masked troops deployed in cities attacking peaceful people… and the shutdown will be terrifying for many people… I think that will attract a lot of people.”
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