Hundreds of demonstrators lined West Beauregard Street at San Angelo’s Civic League Park on Saturday as part of the nationwide “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration’s policies.
Protests in roughly 2,000 places were scheduled nationwide from small towns to big cities. The San Angelo chapter of the nongovernmental organization West Texas Indivisible, in conjunction with the 50501 movement, was responsible for organizing the rally at Civic League Park.
Many came after the demonstration was publicized on the WTXI Facebook page, which states organizers are “committed to fostering civic engagement, protecting democracy, and ensuring the voices of everyday citizens are heard.”
“There’s different groups here that represent different concerns,” WTXI San Angelo Chapter community organizer Jessie Ramon said.
“We’ve got plenty of people here that have very big concerns with the immigration policies, who are very much anti-ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement),” Ramon said. “We’ve got a lot of the pride community here that don’t like the attacks on the LGBTQ community. And then we even have some moderates here that maybe voted for this but are not happy with the way things turned out.”
All met at noon underneath the canopy of mesquite trees at the corner of West Beauregard Avenue and South Park Street. The organizers helped pass out signs, snacks and water bottles.
Before long, the crowd lined the street shoulder-to-shoulder down to Beauregard Bridge.
“We were not expecting (the protest) to be this big,” WTXI San Angelo Chapter community organizer China Young said. “We’ve had pretty consistent turnout from some of our other events, usually 60 to 100 people, but we thought this would be a little bit more because of the national momentum. It’s amazing to see this many people turn out.”
Part of the main protest moved across the bridge and down to the Santa Fe public golf course where they marched down Veterans Memorial Drive and Park Drive, eventually rejoining the main group in the park.
Multiple cars drove by the protest, honking their horns or waving at the crowds to thundering applause.
As the crowd grew bigger in the park, counterprotesters across the street started to gather, waving Trump 2024 flags among other memorabilia. Despite the opposing sides sharing words, the groups never escalated past shouting.
“We assigned some people to be monitors and kind of be very observant and diligent,” Ramon said. “We had hopes to manage that on our own, but we kind of had some instigators and agitators making their way through the crowd. So we’re thankful for the SAPD (San Angelo Police Department) for their presence and keeping us safe.”
The crowd started dispersing around 2 p.m. when the protest was scheduled to end. Some stayed later to continue protesting along the road while others gathered in shaded areas.
“It’s just important for us to be able to gather and show our leaders that we’re not taking this lying down,” Young said. “We see how they’re not standing up for us … We just want them to open their ears and recognize our concerns.”
Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at sports@gosanangelo.com. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @Paul_Witwer.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Protesters hold San Angelo ‘No Kings’ rally against President Donald Trump, ICE raids
Reporting by Paul Witwer, San Angelo Standard-Times / San Angelo Standard-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
