Hundreds Say ‘No Kings’

CHATHAM – Hundreds of local residents crowded onto the front lawn of the Chatham Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse Saturday as part of the nationwide No Kings protest.

 Organizers estimated that about 500 protesters attended the rally, waving signs and singing protest songs during the 90-minute event.

 Attendees ranged in age from youngsters to seniors. Mary Chestnut held a sign that read “I’m 92 and didn’t come this far to be quiet.” Ninety-year-old Beverly Johnson’s sign read “Now you’ve pissed off grandma!”

 “We’re all immigrants,” she said. “We have to remember that.”

 Other signs held by demonstrators protested U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities, the war in Iran, and many of the policies of the Trump administration. Many called for the country to uphold democratic ideals and protested the unprecedented authority claimed by the president.

 Many of those present said they were demonstrating to express their dissatisfaction with the direction of the country and the administration’s lack of accountability.

 “America’s Only King Is Elvis,” read one sign. Another said, “Alexa, change the president.”

 “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing,” said Mary Byrne, president of What Now?, the event’s organizer. “We did something.”

 This was the third “No Kings” rally held in Chatham and was one of some 3,000 held across the nation attracting as many as eight million people.