MANATEE COUNTY — Three thousand protesters lined the streets in front of UTC for almost a mile on Saturday for the No Kings Day 3 rally, according to event sponsor Indivisible Manatee. A simultaneous event, also sponsored by IM, took place in Ellenton and was reported to have more than 1,000 attendees.
The Manatee County rallies were part of a much greater effort across more than 3,000 small towns and big cities in every state. Final numbers for the national rallies are still being counted, but are expected to exceed 8 million.
“Our message with today’s event was 'No Thrones, No Crowns, No Kings,' and our participants truly embraced the moment with an energy and passion that blew us away,” said Liv Coleman, IM charter member and event spokesperson. She said that Manatee County residents turned out in force with “banners, signs, costumes, and props that allowed their creative juices to flow.” From Superman to Lady Liberty to a space-age alien – “and a guy wearing a sofa,” the messaging was clear … “We don’t do kings in America.”
Indivisible Manatee is part of the national Indivisible organization that encouraged millions of Americans to express their discontent with the Trump administration and its policies. Coleman reported that the Manatee County rallies received enthusiastic support from passing motorists and experienced no incidents.
“We are a non-partisan group and welcome anyone and everyone to join our ranks,” said Coleman. “Every one of our participants has a different reason for protesting, but we all come together with a common purpose of voicing our discontent with the current administration.”
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lib224
There were also several thousand on Cortez Road in Bradenton across from Walmart.
Wednesday, April 1 Report this
chrisluvspoodles
I was at the UTC rally. The driver of a large black pickup truck, lifted, with extra wheels,(whatever that “oh, so cool!” look is called), revved his engine, swerved and raced toward us, blasting us with a cloud of black smoke. We had to jump back, panicked, afraid he was going to run us down.
Wednesday, April 1 Report this
Ladyred4Justice
lib224 is correct. You left out the No Kings Protest on Cortez West. They had over 2000 and possibly 3000 people lining the sidewalks from 49th Street down to 59th Street three deep.
Thursday, April 2 Report this