Trump’s Inauguration Weekend Could See Biggest Nationwide Mobilization In US History
NEW YORK — As thousands of protesters begin pouring into Washington to protest the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, others have planned simultaneous demonstrations across the United States.
“There have been a wave of protests and walkouts across the country since Trump was announced as president-elect, mostly by students not part of any organization, including even high-schoolers,” Danya Zituni, a Students for a Democratic Society organizer at the University of South Florida in Tampa, told MintPress News.
“On Inauguration Day, we hope to seize the momentum of this righteous anger, and channel it into organizing.”
SDS, a national student organization inspired by the 1960s-era group of the same name, started planning in November for a national student walkout to protest the inauguration.
“So far, we have 25 SDS chapters and affiliates from Chicago to Minneapolis to Tallahassee that will be participating, and hosting student walkouts which culminate with a rally and/or march,” Zituni said.
“Students have been doing massive on the ground outreach to agitate for walkouts, uniting with progressive faculty and workers on campus, and preparing to disrupt operations on campuses everywhere.”
Other campus groups and student networks, like Socialist Students, will hold similar actions at their universities, while off-campus organizers have planned dozens of local and regional protests.
Along with more than 600 women’s marches planned for Saturday, as well as a call for a women’s strike from paid and unpaid labor on both days, these efforts could make the inaugural weekend one of the largest political mobilizations in U.S. history.
According to one count by USA Today, demonstrations will occur across all 50 states, as well as in 32 foreign countries.