As anti-Trump rallies gear up across the US on the same day as president Trump’s military parade in Washington and his 79th birthday, several hundred protestors gathered in Amsterdam’s Museumplein to stage their own “No Kings” event.
Chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go,” protestors held signs reading “We the people are pissed” and “Stop the tyrants.” One American flag-draped canine campaigner’s message was clear: “No treats for tyrants.”
“I’m here because I am pissed off for…pick any number of reasons. They’re all valid!” said Audrey Langford, who’s originally from San Antonio, Texas. “I feel like as long as the people have the right to protest, I should be exercising that right.”
Many of the demonstrators were indeed from the US, including Kentucky native Curtis Koenig. “I do not like people exercising illegal fascist power or destroying my country and taking away the freedoms of the people who live there,” he said on why he turned up.
Millions of people are expected to attend the US protests—which will be held in all 50 states and even in countries such as Germany, Mexico and the UK—where they are predicted to be among the largest since Trump’s second term in office.
National guards & military parades
The rallies come on the heels of a week of protests following anti-immigration raids in Los Angeles that saw president Trump deploying the national guard and soldiers against US civilians.
Koenig says the US demonstrations give him hope in the face of a hard-to-believe situation. “I see what’s happening in Los Angeles, where I used to live. And I strongly support the rights of people not to be taken off the street by masked, unidentified people. That is not who we are as a country or what we were founded for.”
Langford also objects to the military parade. “That’s for North Korea and Russia, not for the egos of a wannabe dictator of America,” she says.
“It’s so blatant, kind of like the frog in warm water that slowly boils. That’s what has been happening over the last two decades. And now we’re at the point where people are making excuses for military parades—likeit’s the army’s birthday. It just so happens to be the president’s birthday. But just how many excuses do you have to make for a person’s shitty behavior?
Koenig has a (somewhat familiar) message for the president from his days as a TV host on “The Apprentice”.
“I think the American people should stand up and tell this administration that this is not what we want and we’re gonna change you,” he says. “You are fired, Don. Have a nice day.”