LAKELAND, Fla. — On a hot and humid Saturday afternoon, hundreds of anti-Trump protesters braved the heat and took advantage of any shade they could find to make a stand in downtown Lakeland.
“This is so exciting to see such a diverse group, different ages. I see different languages on different signs,” said one of the protest organizers. “And I see so much creativity and so much passion.”
They gathered in Munn Park as part of a nationwide movement known as “No Kings” day, a series of protests targeting what they see as overreach by President Donald Trump and his administration.
“It’s very much overreach,” said Sue Jones, who watched the crowd from her lawn chair while sitting in the shade of one of the park’s majestic oaks. “It’s very much overreach.”
Jones and Ann Beabout, both former teachers from Winter Haven, feel like the country has lost its way, and decency has been replaced by division and hate.
“It’s a surprise, in a way, that we come to retirement and we see this is happening to our nation,” said Beabout.
After gathering in the park, protesters took to the streets and took a lap around part of downtown Lakeland.
Officers from the Lakeland Police Department kept eyes on the protest and, as it moved through the city, blocked roads and alleyways to keep protesters safe.
One of the protesters, Benjamin Rios, who donned a tricorn hat and colonial uniform, risked his health to be there.
“My friends tried to convince me not to come, just because I had a stroke two months ago,” he said.
However, he showed up anyway, wearing his costume, an American flag, and carrying his sign.
“Well, the sign probably says it all, ‘No Kings.’ And also, just everything he’s doing against other branches of government, to where he just does what he wants, and we can’t have that,” he said.
ABC Action News spotted a couple groups of counter protesters, which drove by the protest in pick-up trucks. Passengers in those vehicles held signs in support of President Trump.
Pasco County woman trying to rebuild mobile home after hurricanes
"I cried, of course, because I've worked very hard getting it nice, which has been difficult for me since I lost my husband and being alone,” Kelly Welty said.
Welty's mobile home lost its roof during Hurricane Milton. She said it was the only one in the Buena Vista community to get totaled by a tornado.
