Protesters send an anti-Trump message along Interstate 91
LONGMEADOW — Hundreds of people along the Interstate 91 corridor from Connecticut through Western Massachusetts into Vermont protested against what they called dangerous and scary policies of the Trump administration.
The demonstrators held signs, waved at motorists and flew American flags they hung from 21 overpasses along a 100-mile stretch of the highway from Hartford to Putney, Vermont. They faced tens of thousands of northbound and southbound travelers for two hours on Friday.
The protests were part of a coordinated effort organized by Rise Up Western Mass Indivisible that saw anywhere from two dozen to nearly 100 demonstrators at each overpass. At least a half-dozen groups were involved in planning and staging the demonstration, according to organizers.
After imposing sweeping tariffs that are causing many to fear a recession in the United States and a global economic meltdown, President Donald Trump is backpedaling, temporarily pausing some of the levies on products coming into the country.
The confusion over what he will do next has caused investors to lose trillions of dollars in the stock market. The tariffs are also threatening to spike inflation, which Trump promised to reduce.
The president says foreign governments will pay for the tariffs but protesters on the Bark Haul Road bridge in Longmeadow scoff at that claim.
'Working middle class Americans will end up paying the tariffs, not the big corporate guys or politicians,' said Barbara Barlow, of Springfield.
Barlow told The Republican this is the first time she has protested since the 1960s when she publicly opposed the Vietnam War.
The president campaigned on a promise to deport illegal aliens, claiming he would focus on the most dangerous criminals among the immigrant population. But many fear his actions are reckless and indiscriminate.
Demonstrators are also angry because they say Trump is ignoring judges who rule against some of his administration's actions.
'There is a lack of due process being afforded to the immigrants. I have relatives who were in the Holocaust. I don't want to see brown shirts coming into the communities, ripping people out of their cars and homes,' said Andrea Chasen, of Longmeadow. 'We have become what we didn't want to become in the 1930s.'
Chasen also criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying his statements and policies are the reason Measles cases are spiking to alarming levels in Texas.
'He's making America sick again. We have an outbreak of whooping cough and measles — things that shouldn't be happening in this country,' she said.
Pat Donahue, of Springfield, brought an American flag to the demonstration, hanging it upside down on a chain link fence facing southbound traffic.
'That shows the country is in distress,' she said. 'The Constitution is being thrown to the side. He [Trump] is criticizing our judges and taking away funding from important programs,' she said.
There were also harsh words for Elon Musk, whom the president has asked to find and eliminate waste in government. Fred Rosenberg, of Longmeadow, said the billionaire is taking a wrecking ball approach to the task.
'We've lost control of the government. We have Elon Musk, who is not elected, going in and just destroying things without any rhyme or reason. We have a Supreme Court that is not stepping up to keep things in line. And we have a president who is acting like a king,' he said.
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