Hundreds turn up for ‘People’s March’ through Pocatello - East Idaho News
Local

Hundreds turn up for ‘People’s March’ through Pocatello

  Published at  | Updated at
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready ...

POCATELLO – Hundreds of people gathered and marched together next to one of the Gate City’s busiest streets.

On Saturday, somewhere between 300 to 400 people met in Caldwell Park to protest in support of a variety of causes, including women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and immigrant rights. The crowd marched south down North 5th Avenue until they reached the Pond Student Union Building on the Idaho State University campus, where around 200 stayed to listen to a number of speakers in the ballroom.

“I’m just watching all of my rights and the rights of millions of other Americans around me being taken away by our government, and I needed a place to come and scream about that,” said Zack Judkins, an 18-year-old who attended the march. “When enough of us come and get together, we’re able to make our voices heard.”

RELATED | People’s March to be held on issues of transgender rights, immigration and reproductive justice

This march was one of many in cities across the nation, including marches in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Pocatello’s march was locally organized by the Pocatello Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, a nonprofit called Trans Affirm, Queer Club Idaho and others.

A number of people waved LGBTQ+ pride flags and most held signs as they marched for around a half hour to the college campus, some cars honking as they passed.

For anyone angry to see or hear about the march, 24-year-old Gabby Taylor hoped they would take it as an opportunity to examine themselves.

“Our mission is love, period. Always, always, always, our mission is love and respect. We’re just trying to care for the people who don’t feel cared for,” Taylor said. “And if that makes you upset, then I would ask you to look into yourself.”

One of the protestors decided to send a message by staying completely silent, wearing a red dress, white bonnet and a mask with an “X” taped over their mouth. This was most likely in reference to the 1985 novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, which has since been adapted into a popular show on Hulu, about a woman that’s forced to be a concubine while living under a theocratic Christian dictatorship in a dystopian future.

Peoples March 2025 handmaiden
A protestor dressed as a handmaiden watches as others in the march walk past. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com
Peoples March 2025 handmaiden
A protestor dressed as a handmaiden watches as others in the march walk past. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com
The protestor wore an “X” over their mouth. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com

The people EastIdahoNews.com spoke to were happy to see how many people turned up to Pocatello’s march.

“I feel like a big showing proves to all the people out there who are negative about social issues that they’re not the majority, and people who care, care enough to show out and show their faces and talk about the issues,” said Nathan Millward, a 26-year-old who attended the march.

Judkins echoed this sentiment, saying he felt worried that the march wouldn’t be well-attended.

“I was worried that there wouldn’t be that many people, and that it wouldn’t be effective,” Judkins said. “It’s easier to write off less people as being crazy or unreasonable when it’s not unreasonable for us to demand our rights that we deserve.”

Heather Schaper, a 46-year-old at the march, expressed her hope that even more people will show up at marches in the future, especially people who have never attended one.

“America continues to be a democracy, and it’s for everyone, and the more that we participate the more it can continue to be that way,” Schaper said. “It requires participation.”

Peoples March 2025 through quad
The marchers go through the Quad on the ISU campus. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com

SUBMIT A CORRECTION