Anti-Trump rally in Boca Raton draws hundreds of protesters
BOCA RATON — More than 1,000 people Saturday lined the grassy area at the edge of the University Commons shopping plaza in Boca Raton to protest the policies of President Donald Trump.
Just about everyone carried signs. One said, "No Kings In America Since 1776." Another: "Tyranny Is At Our Door." One sign asked: "What would life be like if your immigrant grandparents had been deported without due process?"
Protestors stood three and four abreast for about a quarter of a mile along Glades Road. Motorists constantly honked their horns. A Boca Raton Police patrol car was parked on the median at Glades Road. The rally, though, was peaceful.
For Rhonda Kupfler, a resident of Coconut Creek, it was the first time that she ever participated in a political protest. "I just could not sit by and not do anything," she said. "I felt it was my patriotic duty to participate. We need to let the president know that what he is doing is not acceptable."
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While the protest was billed on social media as a rally for immigrants who have been illegally deported, Harriet Zeikowitz said she was there to protest everything that the president has done, adding: "If this keeps us, we won't have a Constitution."
Myra Terry, 81, of Deerfield Beach said she is concerned about the negative impact of tariffs on her savings and the threat that Social Security and Medicare could be cut. "He (the president) wants to privatize everything."
David Stein was one of the many protesters that carried a "No King" sign. "We have never seen anything like this. He is dragging down democracy." There were no speeches during the rally — only protesters constantly chanting: "Hey Hey, Ho, Ho Trump has got to go."
The rally, held from 1 to 2:30 p.m., also attracted a few Trump supporters. For the most part, they stayed away from the rally, driving their vehicles, draped in Trump flags, around the shopping center and on Glades Road, where they were met with taunts.
But two 17-year-old high school students, wearing Trump shirts, engaged with the Trump protesters, arguing whether it was right to have deported Kilmar Ábrego García to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador without a hearing before a judge.
One of them, who declined to be identified, said that the conversations with the protesters went well, adding: "I was not going to change their minds and they were not going to change mine but at least we spoke to each other."
Amnon Shalev of Boca Raton, a Trump supporter, spoke with a reporter as he parked his truck in the parking lot of the shopping plaza. A flag emblazoned in blue hung from the back of the truck saying: "TRUMP WON."
"These people cannot accept the fact that he won," he said. "As for due process, all they want to do is bring back gang members into the country. That's wrong."
The Boca Raton protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations that have been staged across the country and in Palm Beach County.
Nationwide, nearly 700 protests were held Saturday, organized by the 50501 Movement, a grassroots initiative born on social media. The group is hoping to keep the momentum following successful April 5 protests that they said drew crowds totaling more than 5 million people across the U.S. There were protests Saturday in front of the White House, a march in New York City, and a demonstration at the site near Boston where, 250 years ago on April 19, the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired.
The largest protest rally took place April 5 when thousands of people in Palm Beach County protested against the president as part of a nationwide slew of events called "Hands Off," organized by Indivisible, an organization founded after the 2016 presidential election to oppose Trump. Its local chapters helped organize more than 1,200 rallies nationwide, including more than 40 in Florida.
Also, protests continue each Saturday at the Tesla dealership on Okeechobee Boulevard each Saturday through April 26 to object to the role of Tesla owner Elon Musk in the Trump administration's firing of thousands of federal workers. The rallies are organized by the Democratic Progressive Caucus.
Rumors on social media have suggested that Trump will declare martial law April 20. He ordered the secretary of defense and the secretary of Homeland Security to submit a joint report over conditions at the southern border, along with their recommendations on "additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807." The 90-day deadline he imposed for completion of the report is April 20.
Invoking the Act would allow Trump to send military forces to the border to enforce federal law. The administration has not commented on what action Trump might take.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and issues concerning HOAs. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump protesters in Boca Raton say democracy is at stake
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