Some southeast Ohio residents participated in the nationwide “No Kings” protests
By: Haley Richardson
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Dressed in costume, bearing signs and waving flags, hundreds crowded along East State Street as part of the nationwide “No Kings” movement on Saturday.
Athens’ protest was one of thousands across the country – all protesting President Donald Trump and his policies.
The “No Kings” movement stemmed from the “Hands off!” protests that took place in April and May. Saturday’s protests also opposed Trump’s military parade honoring the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, which coincided with the president’s 79th birthday.
Athens resident Pamela Feliciano is a mother of two and worried about her children’s futures under the Trump administration.
“I can’t let this slide with my children at risk of being deported because they’re here. … It’s not American, and I’m a full-blooded, red-blooded Puerto Rican American, and I believe in what America is, which is freedom,” Feliciano said.
Sitting next to her friend with a sign taped to the front of her walker, Pam Cunningham, a protester from Parkersburg, West Virginia, watched her daughter lead call-and-response chants.
Cunningham echoed Feliciano’s fears: “I have daughters, I have granddaughters and I have great-granddaughters. … This is no world for them to be raised in.”
Smaller counties also organized their own “No Kings” protests. About 30 miles west of Athens, 31 people gathered in McArthur outside the Vinton County Courthouse.
Protesters brought up their concerns over Medicaid and Medicare funding, LGBTQ rights and the president’s authority.
Bill Beckley, chair of the Vinton County Democratic Party, said people in Vinton County know all too well the impact federal funding cuts will have on rural areas.
“This is where the people are. … It’s the smallest county in the state, it’s (a) high number of folks that are unemployed, on Medicare on Medicaid … when those programs … are threatened, people take note,” Beckley said.
No violence was reported at either protest, despite two masked men counterprotesting in Athens while carrying a Nazi flag.
Adrian Hartman said this was the first protest she had seen the men at, but that their presence was no less alarming.
“(It) made me kind of want to throw up and broke my heart that they’re here, and I know they’re everywhere, but it’s still heartbreaking,” Hartman said.
Several protesters confronted the two men, with one group surrounding them to block their flag with their own signs.