By Shutdown Trump
Photos: Shutdown Trump\Ken Schles
49 New Yorkers were arrested early Tuesday morning blockading multiple streets leading to the United Nations ahead of President Trump’s General Assembly speech.
The protest began with a rally on the steps of the New York Public library, where hundreds of people gathered in defiance of the Trump administration’s authoritarian takeover and crackdown on political dissent. Protesters then marched to the United Nations and took to the streets, blockading multiple streets and shutting down traffic. The protest briefly disrupted Trump’s motorcade as it was diverted and met with a cascade of cries from the crowd.
In a South Park themed satire, a group of protesters were dressed as Satan, who is depicted as Trump’s lover in the hit comedy show and brandished a mocking banner stating, “Trump: Even Satan Won’t F*ck Him.” Others brandished large “Arrest Trump” and “Shut Down Trump” banners.
The protest, led by concerned New Yorkers and organized by advocacy groups 50501 NYC, Climate Defenders, Planet Over Profit, 198 Methods and Extinction Rebellion, comes on the heels of the administration’s attempt to silence free speech and attack political opponents.
Protest organizers issued the following statements:
“We will not stand for the authoritarian takeover of our government. The American people are rising in the streets to shut down Trump’s regime and making it clear that his assault on our communities, our planet and our democracy speaks for no one but the billionaires he serves.”
-Jonathan Westin, Executive Director of Climate Defenders
“This administration is funding concentration camps, climate change, and genocide while defunding healthcare and food stamps, all to benefit their billionaire allies. We are here to make it clear to them, and the international community, that Trump does not speak for us.”
-Hannah Stauss, Organizer with 50501 NYC
“We can all understand that the times we are living in aren’t sustainable and that the people in power care more about their Billions than the tangible good Mother Earth provides. By using our atmosphere as an open sewer, they are poisoning our home. This Billionaire regime-backed by fossil fuel money, profiting from genocidal war and robbing the poor to fund the obscenely wealthy does not represent us at the UN or anywhere.”
-Mathew Menzies, Extinction Rebellion
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