SPOKANE — Thousands of people turned out here Saturday afternoon for a “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump.
The protest crowds mixed with those gathered earlier in the day for Spokane Pride and the Two Spirit Powwow. The demonstration was mostly peaceful, but later in the evening, a smaller group squared off with local police.
“If the kids are united, we’ll never be divided,” the crowd chanted at one point.
Cynthia Hamilton, an organizer of the protest, said Democrats in Washington state are doing the right thing by fighting Trump administration policies in the courts and peacefully protesting.
wouldn’t be the USA without Mexicans.” This was the first protest she’d participated in this year, but Szambelan previously participated in 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
But Hamilton also noted that many of the protesters in Spokane on Saturday were older and said she’d like to see younger people getting more involved.
“You have to get into the game, you have to register to vote, you have to take a little break off your screen time,” she said. “Maybe learn about civics, and this does really affect your life. It’s not like ignoring it will make it go away. Because it ain’t going away.”
She floated some national candidates she sees as promising. “Give me more Pete Buttigieg, give me some [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], give me more Bernie [Sanders],” said Hamilton.
Among the other protesters was Raven Tucker, 76, a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S Air Force at Fairchild Air Force Base, near Spokane, from 1968 to 1986. He was one of many gathered on Spokane Falls Boulevard.
demonstration.
Tucker recalled how, during his training in the 1980s, a KGB agent who’d defected gave a lecture about Russia’s foreign interference operations.
“I think Donald Trump is an operative for the KGB and Putin, and that’s my honest feeling right now,” said Tucker, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said his concerns about Trump deepened following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling on presidential immunity.
“They just gave him freedom to [do] whatever he wants, they just want to step over the Constitution,” said Tucker.
“If we don’t go out and fight now and then, we’re gonna have to live under a new king,” said Tucker. “I learned that in the military, the difference between fear and courage is just doing it.”
Hamilton raised concerns that the U.S. is losing the trust of other countries since Trump took office in January.
“We have to earn that back, and trust is so hard to earn,” she said.
The official “No Kings” demonstration lasted until around 5:30 p.m., but protests carried on afterward.
By 8:30 p.m., officers with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Police Department asked protesters to stop blocking Spokane Falls Boulevard. Later in the night, authorities deployed smoke and other crowd control munitions to disperse the remaining demonstrators.
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