Another round of anti-Trump protests hits US cities

NEW YORK - Thousands of protesters marched on April 19 in New York and other cities across the United States for a second major round of demonstrations against President Donald Trump and his hard-line policies.

In New York, people rallied outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans like “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny”.

Many protesters took aim at

Mr Trump’s sweeping deportations

of undocumented migrants, chanting “No ICE – no fear – immigrants are welcome here”, a reference to the role of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in arrests and deportations of migrants.

“We are in a great danger,” said Ms Kathy Valy, 73, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, saying their stories of how Nazi leader Adolf Hitler rose to power “are what’s happening here”.

“The one thing is that Trump is a lot more stupid than Hitler or than the other fascists,” she said.

“He’s being played... and his own team is divided.”

Demonstrators also gathered outside the White House in Washington, though the numbers appeared smaller than in the “Hands Off” protests across the country on April 5.

Some voiced concern that Mr Trump was threatening long-respected constitutional norms, including the right to due process.

Separately, there were protests outside Tesla car dealerships against

the drastic government-cutting efforts

of top Trump adviser Elon Musk.

Organisers hope to use building resentment over Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown, his drastic cuts to government agencies and his pressuring of universities, news media and law firms, to forge a lasting movement.

The chief organiser of the April 19 protests – the group 50501, a number representing 50 protests in 50 states and one movement – said some 400 demonstrations were planned.

Its website said the protests are “a decentralised rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies” – and it insists on all protests being non-violent.

The group called for millions to take part on April 19.

Actual turnout, however, was difficult to confirm with many police departments declining to provide crowd estimates. AFP