Pocatello and Idaho Falls to join national ‘No Kings’ day of action in mid-October

Elmer Martinez at a Pocatello protest on May 17. | Logan Ramsey, EastIdahoNews.com POCATELLO – Two cities in eastern Idaho will join with more than 2,000 others in 18 days to protest the actions of the U.S. executive branch of government. Both Pocatello and Idaho Falls have registered protests on NoKings.org for its national day of action, scheduled for Oct. 18, protesting the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration. A local organizer in Pocatello said that while the president has tagged protestors as “dissidents and people on the far left,” that description doesn’t reflect reality. “As I look out on the people that come to these protests, I see primarily a lot of older people … We had one person who was 98 years old showing up. So there’s a wide variety of people there, and they’re not wild-eyed terrorists. They’re just local citizens who care about their country, who love their country,” said Elmer Martinez, a local organizer of the protests. RELATED | ‘No Kings Day’ draws thousands of eastern Idahoans out to protest The national No Kings media team released a press release on Tuesday, announcing that the number of local protests being held on this second day of action had surpassed 2,110, making this one, “on track to surpass the June 14 No Kings day of action over the summer, which saw more than five million people protesting across all 50 states.” According to the map of registered protests on NoKings.org, the protest in Idaho Falls will start at 4 p.m. at the Japanese Friendship Garden, which is near the Broadway Bridge. While the map shows that Pocatello’s protest is registered to start at 10 a.m. at the Bannock County Courthouse, Martinez said that it will start at 11:30 a.m. at Caldwell Park. “I think an individual has, on their own, done some type of protest outreach that is an hour earlier than ours,” Martinez explained. “I’m not sure who’s all going to that one.” Starting at 11:30 a.m. in Pocatello, there will be speakers who will address the crowd, but those speakers haven’t been officially lined up yet. Following the speakers, the protestors will march down Center Street to the Bannock County Courthouse. The first No Kings protest in June drew thousands of protesters in three eastern Idaho cities: Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Driggs. This was one of many national protests that have been held since Trump was re-elected to the presidency. Martinez said the protests have drawn various amounts of people, ranging from less than 200 all the way up to 1,200, depending on the day and time when they held it. Because of that, he said he doesn’t know how many people will come to their second No Kings protest. “I think it will be larger in number, (but) I’m not quite sure how many people will show up,” Martinez said. While the national protests have remained peaceful demonstrations, Martinez wanted to reiterate that this protest would be peaceful, especially in light of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. “I want to make sure that people know that whatever stance you have, that we’re all Americans and we can have disagreements with each other without hating each other and without wishing to cause harm to each other,” Martinez said. Martinez believes that there’s value in continuing to have these protests, as they serve as a regular reminder that many Americans disagree with the direction the executive branch is taking the country. “I recognize a lot of faces in the crowd. I know a lot of them are retirees. They’re military veterans. A lot of people who have worked in this area and care enough about what’s going on that they’re willing to show up. So I can’t stress enough that local citizens are just showing that they care,” Martinez said.The post Pocatello and Idaho Falls to join national ‘No Kings’ day of action in mid-October appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com