1,000+ gather in Hampton Park for ‘No Kings’ protest - Charleston City Paper

[UPDATED with more photos] More than 1,000 people crowded into Hampton Park downtown on Saturday morning to protest President Donald Trump and his administration’s government overreach.

They were loud. They brandished creative signs that offered slogans like “Resist Fascism” and “Jesus would be flipping tables at this point.” And more than anything, they were frustrated.

“June 14 is the 150th anniversary of the United States Army,” said event organizer Kristy Kinney in an interview just before the start of the “No Kings” protest, one of 1,800 across the country. “The Continental Congress set up our Army to push back against a tyrannical dictator, and we find ourselves here again today.

“While Congress says there’s no money for Medicaid, there’s no money for SNAP, programs that help the most vulnerable of us — veterans, our seniors, children — the president can spend between $25 (million) and $45 million on a birthday parade,” she said. “It adds insult to injury that the most vulnerable of us are threatened to be left behind while this big, beautiful disaster bill will give a little tax break to the top 1%.”

Saturday’s protest, like others across the country, decried Trump’s rule in Washington, D.C. In Hampton Park, the crowd gathered by a pond, chanting, “No kings, no crowns.” In a dedicated counter-protest area across the pond was one Trump supporter, an observer noted.

More than 1,400 people RSVPed ahead of the event, Kinney said. Hundreds arrived with signs, posters, flags and more. Many others made their signs at the picnic tables surrounded by like-minded friends and neighbors. Dozens continued to trickle in over the course of the demonstration.

Charleston police stationed at least 20 officers around the perimeter of the group, with at least three mounted on horseback and many others on bicycles. The moderate presence was a far cry from the harsh response from authorities in Los Angeles after Trump called on the National Guard to quell protests against immigration enforcement.

“This has been planned for well over a month and a half. It just so happens to be falling a couple days after what’s going on in L.A. We are not L.A., obviously,” Kinney said. “We’re a small community in the grand scheme of things. … This is obviously, first and foremost, a peaceful demonstration. We are all exercising our First Amendment rights.”

A second Charleston protest is planned by another group for Sunday morning. People plan to gather in Brittlebank Park from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. More than a dozen others, including one in Summerville, were planned over the weekend across South Carolina.

Here are some photos from the Summerville rally provided by a participant: