(This story has been updated with new information.)
Rallies protesting President Donald Trump across Ventura County drew more than 12,000 people waving signs and chanting their frustrations on June 14, officials estimated.
About 5,500 people attended a “No Kings” protest outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, according to a police estimate. Organizers said the number was even higher. The crowd was so big streets were backed up with cars. Sidewalks were clogged with people.
The protests, part of a national day of action, come on Flag Day as a massive parade was being held in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary. June 14 was also Trump’s 79th birthday.
Justin Sanfilippo, 38, of Oxnard, said he came to the Ventura protest because of ramped-up immigration enforcement and worries about what the Trump White House means for his family’s future.
“I have got two kids,” he said. “He is changing the world they are going to grow up in. It has become unacceptable.”
Speakers in Ventura included U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and state Assemblymember Steve Bennett, D-Ventura.
“We need to recognize that fear and division is contagious but so is courage and so is energy and so is resistance,” Bennett said.
The rallies were held across the county. Organizers said 1,500 people gathered in downtown Ojai. At Oxnard’s Plaza Park, about 100 people waved signs at passing cars. More than 2,000 people protested and held flags at the corner of Tapo Canyon Road and Alamo Street in Simi Valley.
“Amazing. Jubilant,” said Indivisible Simi Valley leader Leanna Brand of how the day made her feel.
Organizers of a protest at Lynn Road and Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks drew more than 3,000 people, an organizer said. U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village, spoke at the event. Hundreds of people gathered late in the afternoon for a protest in Moorpark.
Law enforcement officials said the demonstrations went on without disturbance.
The large crowds appeared to be fueled in part by frustration over immigration enforcement raids reported across Ventura County and hitting sites including farms and packing facilities.
Several days earlier, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in downtown Los Angeles brought protests that triggered Trump’s controversial decisions to deploy the National Guard and then the Marines.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: ‘No Kings’ protests draw more than 12,000 across Ventura County
Reporting by Tom Kisken and Dominic Massimino, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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