By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday in Washington and other cities in the US to express their opposition against President Donald Trump's policy on deportations, government raids and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Outside the White House, demonstrators who reads “employees should have the power”, “no kingship”, “stop arming of Israel” and “appropriate process”, according to media images.
Some protesters sang to support migrants who have deported the Trump government or has tried to deport and at the same time express solidarity with people who have been fired by the federal government and with universities whose financing is threatened by Trump.
“While Trump and his administration mobilize the use of the American deportation machine, we are going to organize networks and resistance systems to defend our neighbors,” said a demonstrator in a Rally on Lafayette Square at the White House.
Other demonstrators waved with Palestinian flags while wearing Keffiyeh scarves, “Free Palestine” singing and expressing solidarity with Palestinians killed in the war of Israel in Gaza.
Some protesters wore symbols that supported Ukraine and which encouraged Washington to be decided in opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
Since his inauguration in January, Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, stripped the federal government, fired more than 200,000 employees and tried to dismantle various agencies.
The administration has also retained dozens of foreign students and threatened to stop federal financing at universities on diversity, fairness and inclusion programs, climate initiatives and pro-Palestinian protests. Rights groups have condemned the policy.
In the vicinity of the Washington Monument, banners of demonstrators were: “Hate never made a nation big” and “equal rights for everyone does not mean fewer rights for you.”
Demonstrations were also held in New York City and Chicago, among dozens of other locations. It marked the second day of national demonstrations since Trump took office.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; adaptation by Frank McGurty and Sandra Maler)
