Trump agitators insert themselves into large No Kings protest in Warsaw
This post was provided by News Now Warsaw
By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Numerous supporters of Donald Trump on Saturday tried to disrupt the No Kings protest, which turned out to likely be one of the biggest protests organized in Warsaw in decades.
Several hundred people lined up along both sides of North Detroit Street, and eventually rally-goers could be seen at all four corners of the Detroit-Center intersection while more then staked out spots at the Main Street intersection to the south.
The rally was excessively boisterous as horns blared approval to the responders’ signs, which decried what many see as Trump’s autocratic tendencies.
The Warsaw protest was one of hundreds of No Kings rallies that drew huge crowds and coincided with a
massive military parade in Washington, D.C., celebrating the US Army’s 250th birthday and happened to fall on Trump’s 79th birthday.
85-year-old James Miller, a military veteran visiting from Florida, arrived with his cane and a protest sign along with his wife, Barbara.
“Myself, I’m a veteran and I feel very strongly that what’s happening in Washington is not right. It’s not what I fought for, I’ll tell you that,” Miller said. “So to heck with them.”
“If you see what’s coming out of there in Washington in this day and age, it makes an old man cry,” Miller said.
The protest was organized online by Thomas Skeens, an area resident.
“It’s a great turnout. I wanna say thanks to Donald Trump. He made it possible. Everything he’s doing is making people come out. It’s not me, it’s not Democrats. It’s not anybody. People are sick of it,” Skeens said.
Elizabeth Coquillard, an area resident who serves as the outreach director for the Indiana Libertarian Party, was among the protesters.
She is upset with Trump’s decision to send National Guard troops into Los Angeles to quell protests over the ongoing immigration crackdown
“I wish there were more National Guard people out here today asking the National Guard not to break their oath. I truly believe that’s what they’re doing. I don’t feel Trump has a good reason to send in the National Guard, especially without the governor’s consent,” Coquillard said.
“We’re here for the little guys,” she added
For the first 90 minutes, many motorists created a near-constant flood of honking horns and many offered a thumbs-up as they drove past. But there were also an occasional few who displayed a middle finger in disapproval.
The raucous, noisy environment continued for nearly three hours.
But eventually, a few pickup trucks carrying Trump signs began circling the protest area, a tactic seen at previous protests earlier this year in Warsaw.
That coincided with two small groups of Trump supporters on foot who then began parading along the sidewalks with Trump flags in an attempt to agitate rally-goers.
Shortly before 5 p.m., numerous police cars arrived in the adjacent CVS parking lot, and two groups — mostly teens — with Trump flags were urged to disperse. One officer told the counterprotesters that it was clear they were trying to agitate the crowd and urged them to use the vacant corner on Main Street in order to keep the peace.
Another group of counterprotesters stood on the southeast corner of Detroit and Center. Those included a couple who wore shirts supporting Trump and and former presidential candidate, Ross Perot. Another guy held a sign reading “Idiots.”
As the protest began to thin out, a dozen or so Trump supporters, one carrying a vulgar Joe Biden flag, stood along the west side of Detroit Street alongside No Kings protesters.
Aside from a few terse words, the two sides appeared to remain civil as several police officers continued to watch from across the street.
The post Trump agitators insert themselves into large No Kings protest in Warsaw appeared first on News Now Warsaw.
