GALLERY: Pocatello joins nationwide protests declaring ‘No Kings’ in America for a second time
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POCATELLO — The Gate City was among at least five eastern Idaho cities to join a nationwide day of protests against President Donald Trump’s administration.
Protests were held in Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Rexburg, Driggs and Arco, which were among around 2,700 protests held across the United States on Saturday, Oct. 18. These were the second round of “No Kings” protests, with the first taking place on June 14.
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“I know Trump and Stephen Miller and Mike Johnson, some of those guys have been trying to portray protesters as dissidents or find reason to fault them. … At our protests, I see a lot of local citizens who have worked all their lives, many of them retired now, but they paid taxes, everything from baseball coaches to firefighters to teachers,” said Elmer Martinez, organizer of the Pocatello protest, the day before the rally.
At 11:30 a.m., Pocatello protestors gathered at Caldwell Park before marching down the street to the Bannock County Courthouse. According to Martinez, somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 people showed up for the protest.
RELATED | Pocatello and Idaho Falls to join national ‘No Kings’ day of action in mid-October
In Pocatello, organizers handed out postcards for people to write messages to their representatives, and they encouraged them to keep it up and organize letter writing groups to express, “how they feel about dictatorships, authoritarians (and) oligarchs.”
“I think it’s really important for people to not just complain about things, but actually participate in change,” Martinez said.
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