In a spate of demonstrations around the Boston area Saturday, anti-Trump protestors invoked the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord as they chanted for “no kings’’ in America.
Saturday’s demonstrations were part of a national protest that compared President Trump to a monarch who was moving the country toward fascism. In Massachusetts, people at rallies from Weymouth to Waltham waved signs critical of Trump, with slogans such as, “We the people refuse to serve a king.’’
The protests coincided with a major anniversary of the local battles that began the Revolutionary War, and many demonstrators contrasted Trump’s actions with the values they believed America was founded on. Governor Maura Healey invoked the historical parallel at an event commemorating the anniversary of the battles. The Democrat and frequent Trump critic called on fellow Bay Staters to “protect the freedoms that were won here.’’
“I’m worried for our whole country,’’ said Amy Jarvi, a teacher from Westford who attended a protest Saturday afternoon on Boston Common. “All humans should have human rights, and that’s why our country was founded.’’
Saturday’s demonstrations were the latest set of near-weekly protests during the first three months of Trump’s second term. After four years out of power, the Republican president’s administration has moved quickly after returning to the White House in January, aggressively cutting government programs, targeting critics, and ramping up deportations.
Trump and his allies, including his adviser Elon Musk, the tech billionaire in charge of a White House group called the Department of Government Efficiency that’s led the charge in seeking to reshape the federal bureaucracy, say these steps are necessary after years of elevated illegal immigration and out-of-control spending for liberal causes. These moves have been met with frequent rallies that push back on the controversy of the week, from cuts to science grants, to trans rights, to immigration.
“How does this help the working people of this country?’’ Samanta Carias, a staff member at Tufts University, asked the crowd on the Common. She said the only people who benefit from the administration’s actions are “Trump and his billionaire bullies.’’
In Waltham, 67-year-old Newton resident Mary Beth Murray was dressed in what she described as a George Washington or Paul Revere costume. She held a sign that showed Trump wearing a British crown and words that read “No Kings! No Tyranny’’ and said Trump’s only seeking power and glory for himself.
“That is the stuff of kings and tyrants,’’ she said. “That is not what the United States of America is about, and our forefathers would be rolling in their graves if they ever knew what was happening right now.’’
Multiple people said they believed Trump has a dangerous disregard for due process and constitutional rights. These criticisms generally center around how his administration has handled deportations, including the case of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts PhD candidate who was in the United States on a student visa before federal immigration authorities canceled it, arrested her outside her apartment in Somerville weeks ago, and whisked her off to a detention facility in Louisiana pending deportation. Her case continues to play out in the courts.
Other signs cited the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who federal authorities arrested and sent to a prison in El Salvador without a hearing. Federal authorities have said they did so by mistake, but have since insisted there’s evidence he’s tied to the violent international gang MS-13. The Trump administration remains in a standoff with the federal courts, which have ordered authorities to facilitate his return so he can have a hearing.
At the Waltham protest, Dennis Sanchez, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran, said the Trump administration has abandoned due process.
“This is not the country that I was brought up in,’’ he said. “This is not the country that I went to Vietnam for.’’
He and his fellow protesters, he said, are “defending due process, we are defending freedom, and we are defending fairness.’’
In Quincy, Meg Wheeler, 40, told the crowd that 250 years ago, “ordinary people’’ stood up to a government that didn’t represent them, and now, they are doing the same.
“Don’t lose hope,’’ Wheeler said after the rally. “It’s really easy in these times to feel like what you’re doing doesn’t make a difference, and you just need to remember that progress is made with a million little actions and on their own, they don’t each feel like anything, but together, we are going to take back our country.’’
As the rally wrapped up, one person turned to another and said, “See you next Saturday.’’
Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.
Talia Lissauer can be reached at talia.lissauer@globe.com. Follow her on Instgram @_ttphotos.
