KINGSTON- Thousands gathered Saturday for a “No Kings” rally at Academy Green Park to protest many issues with the second term of Donald Trump’s presidency.
“The total disregard for the Constitution, the graft, due process, the building of the concentration camps, the war in Iran, they are the most dysfunctional group of people,” said Virginia Lupino, of her many grievances with the Trump administration.
Lupino was with Saugerties Indivisible, one of many local protest groups attending the afternoon rally, conducted under cool, blustery skies. Protestors started gathering prior to 2 p.m. at the park, where they were treated to music and the companionship of others like themselves.
Shortly after 3 p.m., the protestors, with colorful signs with various messages, left the park as a mass procession and paraded around the city.
Maxine Kamin, of Port Ewen and a rally organizer, expected about 10,000 people to attend the rally after similar rallies gathered 3,000 and 5,000 people in Kingston.
“It’s not raining or pouring, like it was during a previous one,” she said. “So hopefully we get the number of people we expect.”
The rally and parade route were expected to draw more performers and even a puppetry group, so more families may attend.
“We’re hoping to attract more families,” said Kamin, “because that’s been something in the past that’s been difficult to do.”
Kingston’s No Kings rally was one of 100 in New York state and about 3,300 nationwide.
And it was one of the last of many other Hudson Valley rallies in communities such as Athens, Beacon, Cornwall, Ellenville, Gardiner, Goshen, Middletown, Newburgh, New Paltz, Port Jervis, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, Saugerties and Woodstock.
Comments