Tens of thousands of people took part in more than 1,500 rallies and marches across all 50 US states on Thursday, in a coordinated day of action against the Trump administration and in honour of the late congressman John Lewis. Organised under the banner 'Good Trouble Lives On', the protests marked the fifth anniversary of Lewis’s death and aimed to carry forward his legacy of civil disobedience and voting rights advocacy.
In Atlanta, Georgia, one of the main protest sites, about 1,000 people marched from a mural of Lewis to Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Senator Raphael Warnock is senior pastor. The Rev Dr Jonathan Jay Augustine, pastor of Big Bethel AME church, said Lewis had given his life for inclusion, adding: 'The things he gave his life for are under attack and being eroded away.' Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP, accused Donald Trump of wanting to destroy the Department of Education and deport millions, declaring: 'In Georgia, no one is above the law.'
In Washington, DC, hundreds gathered near the White House, with some holding signs comparing the Trump administration to Nazi Germany. Mary Baird, who travelled from North Carolina to meet members of Congress before the protest, said: 'Fascism will fall and when it falls, if you were complicit, you will be held accountable.' In Minneapolis, speakers urged the crowd to follow Lewis’s example of 'good trouble', with lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong calling for continued boycotts of retailer Target.
The protests, which included rallies, marches, candlelight vigils, and voter registration drives, were organised by dozens of advocacy and civil rights groups. Events were also held in St Louis, Annapolis, Oakland, and Chicago, which hosted the flagship evening rally. Organisers said the actions were the latest in a series of distributed protests showing opposition to Trump across the country, though Thursday’s turnout was expected to be smaller than the 'No Kings' protests in June that drew millions.
