CITY OF NEWBURGH – Several hundred people of all ages showed up for a “No Kings Day” march through streets in the city’s east end on June 14.
They carried signs and chanted slogans as they walked along streets overlooking the Hudson River, including Montgomery, Second and Washington streets as well as a section of Water Street that also has the alternate name, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
It was just one of more than 2,000 protests nationwide organized to coincide with a military parade in Washington, D.C. that evening.
That parade was supposed to celebrate the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army, but organizers of the No Kings marches claimed President Donald Trump was instead using the opportunity to celebrate his 79th birthday, which also fell on the same day. The administration has said the date is a coincidence.
Megan Galbraith, one of the organizers of the Newburgh event, said Newburgh was an appropriate place for a march.
“Newburgh is a very diverse city, and everybody always comes together here,,” Galbraith said.
“Newburgh also has a strong connection to the founding of our nation,” she added, noting the presence on Liberty Street of Washington’s Headquarters, where General George Washington lived for 16 months after the cessation of hostilities with Great Britain until the peace treaty was signed.
Marchers chanted various slogans along the way.
“New York is home, New York is safe, New York is not a fascist state,” one group chanted as they walked along Water Street.
“This is what democracy looks like,” two men said repeatedly as they walked up a hill on Washington Street.
But many marchers just let their signs, most of them hand-made, speak for them.
“Love not hate makes American great,” read one sign held up by a child standing near the end of the march.
Other signs read “No Kings, Impeach Trump,” “No Throne No Crown, No Kings,” “Defend the Constitution,” “Hands off the CDC,” “Hands Off Colleges and Universities,” “A Free Country Has No Kings” and “Morons Are Governing America,” among others.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: No Kings march in Newburgh draws hundreds to city’s east end
Reporting by Mike Randall, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
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