Thousands of people attended Burlington, Vermont’s No Kings rally on Saturday. Speakers included the state’s Congressional representative and a Columbia University student that had been detained by ICE.
The nearly 9 acres of Burlington’s Waterfront Park was packed with people for Vermont’s largest No Kings rally.
People came out for a number of reasons, but a common theme was disgust over Trump administration actions and policies.
Maureen Gibeault was wearing a TACO hat a reference to the recently popular acronym Trump Always Chickens Out.
“I'm concerned for our country and the democracy that we seem to be losing and going towards an authoritarian state," Gibeault said. "And I think the more Republican's see communities coming together to protest what's happening in this country, maybe they'll understand what an abomination it is. Instead of ripping away everything that families need in this country, maybe just seeing the crowds is going to be a realization that they're headed down the wrong road."
Saint Michael’s College physics professor Alain Brizard expressed concerns about federal cuts to researchers.
“Now, many young students who were hoping to go to graduate school are now being told that the funding has been cut and many positions have been eliminated, and so we're losing a lot of young people who are interested in scientific careers," Brizard said. "We're losing them. So this will have catastrophic consequences for years to come."
Burlington resident Amaal Abdelrahman says she felt obligated to speak out against the federal government’s actions.
“I came today because I've lived in Vermont my entire life, and in seeing how Vermont has become the center of certain immigrant cases that have been happening, this is something that is not existing in a bubble outside of our state, this is here now," Abdelrahman said. "It's here in our country. It's here in our community, and it's my right to be here and to protest and to speak out against injustice."
A number of speakers and musical groups took to the stage.
Vermont became a focus of the Trump administration ICE raids and deportation policies when Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student, was taken into custody by ICE agents when he appeared for a citizenship interview in April. Mahdawi was held at the Northwest Correctional facility in St. Albans until a Vermont federal judge ordered his release.
Mahdawi spoke at the Burlington No Kings rally.
“I spent 16 days, but in that prison, I never in my life experienced the amount of love, the amount of support, the amount of solidarity that I experienced in my own cell, and that's because of you, Vermonters," Mahdawi said. "I saw you protesting in front of the court, I saw you protesting in front of the prison, and I felt your love. I felt your care. Thank you."
Mahdawi told the crowd the federal government’s arrests and detainment of immigrants betray the teachings of Buddha, Jesus, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr and other peacemakers.
Later, Vermont’s only Congressional representative Becca Balint, a Democrat, took to the stage.
“On this day when two legislators in Minnesota were gunned down. You don't know what it means to me to stand in front of you today to see that you have not lost hope. Thank you for taking a stand and shouting, no kings, no kings," Balint said. "This is America, dammit. No kings, no tyrants, no dictators, don't you. Let them twist our founding documents. It starts with we. We hold these truths to be self evident, everything flows from that bold, clear statement that the people are in charge."
During the "No Kings" rally, there was performance art including a die in as people laid on the ground holding signs lamenting government cuts. Creative signs were everywhere with things like “Deport Trump – Save America”, 86-47, … even one with American Sign language fingerspelling F-Trump. There were a couple Canadian flags with signs saying “Vermont respects its neighbors.” One group of people wore paper crowns with No Kings written on them. A blow-up Statue of Liberty stood over the crowd – with its torch arm deflated and pointing to the ground.
One sign that stood out had a picture of martin Luther King, Jr. stating “This is the King America needs.”
Palestinian flags were in abundance and a number of activist and advocacy groups, ranging from the Vermont Public Interest Research Group to Hunger Free, Vermont sported information booths during the rally. Vermont based Migrant Justice reported that two of the group's leaders had just been detained, and they asked people to also rally at the Vermont detention center.
