Attended the no kings protest yesterday about 30 minutes after it began. You could see the police cars sprinkled around the downtown area, the number of protesters continue to grow as I walk into the downtown area. With the road near the arlington avenue bridges closed to move the rebar for the pillars without interruptions from the public, protesters are forced to cut through the parking lot of the religious school. As you walk into the downtown area, you can hear the music getting louder. I couldn't make it downtown since there was a huge ass crowd, making it clear that there was most likely more attendees than last time. This is the back of the protest line, you can tell by the thinning number of protesters.
The back of the protest line had a marching mariachi band, some dude wearing a banana costume & a couple other protesters in costumes. As the protest lime merges with those who are at the city plaza, man head up to the parking garage, many on the 6th level while the rest are on the levels below. It was the 6th floor that opened my eyes to the huge ass crowd. At least 10,000+ attendees within the city plaza, many speakers taking the stage. With the city plaza full, many protesters had no choice but to listen from across the river while others had to listen from the bridges on either side.
The protesters on the 6th level of the parking garage was tasked with dropping the banner. I was one of those who stepped up to drop one of the banners. At first, we were told that the banner couldn't be hung off the building so we removed the straps & prepared to hold it on our own, that was until one of the event organizers stepped in. Many of us wanted to drop the banner off regardless of the risk of catching a charge but decided against it out of the respect of the event organizer. We took them down, spreading the banners on the ground for the drone to capture.
After spreading the banners o the ground & having the drone capture them, many of us had began folding the banners & heading down. I decided to take a photo of the police, that was when one of the protesters decided to pose with a female officer. Not really a move I would recommend but she was cool with it. That's how I got this bad ass picture bellow & at the beginning of this blog.
