'Not a time to hide': Hundreds protest Trump in peaceful Portland rally
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- After a Tuesday night protest ended with five arrests over vandalization and interfering with police, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in downtown Portland Saturday afternoon once again to protest President Trump's second term.
Activist group Portland for Palestine organized the rally in Terry Schrunk Plaza, also joined by the Portland chapter of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).
The protesters further gathered for speeches before going on a mile march through the city.
Organizers told KOIN 6 News their biggest concerns with the second Trump administration, with Portland for Palestine's Kacey DeSantis emphasizing the president "undoing of 60 years of progressive legislation with the swipe of a pen" less than a week into office.
"He's already called into question birthright citizenship, he's declared war on the southern border," she said. "He has taken away Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs, and the federal government paused the hiring of federal jobs. He's already done so much."
Meanwhile, Omar Gil with FRSO called this an opportunity for empowerment within a specific movement.
"It's a reaction to the growing power that the people have displayed this past year, from the mega marches in support of Palestine to the mass amounts of labor unions and labor strikes, the labor movement is on the grow again. People aren't backing down from laws and injustice that occur in our country every day, and Trump is here to bring a stop to that."
Gil also cautioned that while some may feel they can "just skate by" these next four years and "come back out of it OK like last time," as he believes this time will be different.
"His overreach and his attacks on a certain population or a certain demographic is an attack on all and that will ultimately bring about repression of them in the end," he said. "So it's more so like, if you don't think you're affected, you will be."
To that end, DeSantis added, "The fight for liberation is eternal and we will never stop pushing."