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People in San Antonio planned a demonstration on Saturday to condemn President Trump’s military parade in Washington D.C., which is meant in part to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
The “No-Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance” protest is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at Travis Park.
The parade in Washington — the first such procession since the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 — will include military vehicles and aircraft and is purported to cost $45 million.
'Peacekeepers' among the protesters
Despite the presence of National Guard troops that Gov. Greg Abbott deployed to the Alamo City, organizers of the “No Kings” protest said they expect the event to be peaceful.
Alex Svehla, lead organizer with the group 50501, which is sponsoring the event, said he expects it to go smoothly: “We're gonna have more peacekeepers than we've ever had before. We've had the support of San Antonio PD, so we're confident that it will go off without any problems.”
The peacekeepers are trained volunteers working with 50501 who will be deployed among the protesters.
"They're the first line of defense in terms of spotting anyone that is suspicious or responding to anybody that might have brought a weapon or just calming down someone that does eventually agitate the crowd in some way," he explained.
The groups Bexar Democrats and the North East Bexar County Democrats are other sponsors of the event. In a statement, organizers explained that the "'No Kings' nationwide protest movement, named in rejection of authoritarianism and political overreach, will bring together diverse community individuals and organizations in a peaceful demonstration to defend democratic values, civil liberties, and freedom of speech."
In a statement from national organizers, they predicted that "No Kings actions will occur in more than 1,800 locations. The day is expected to be the largest single-day mobilization since President Trump returned to office — a mass, nationwide protest rejecting authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarization of our democracy."
The Mujeres Marcharan Coalition planned a similar march earlier in the day at Labor Plaza, 500 E. Market St., starting at 11 a.m.
In a statement, the group explained that "we call this protest not only to stand united against Trump's blatant bratty child behavior irresponsibly throwing our tax dollars away for a vanity parade, but because we are strong, powerful and we love our people — what better way of demonstrating this than uniting in protest demanding what we need — housing, dignified jobs, debt cancelation, Queer and Trans liberation, abortion access and bodily sovereignty, an end to gender based violence and an end to imperialism."
San Antonio not alone
San Antonio marchers will join similar events in Houston, Austin, Dallas and in cities across the nation.
Texas House Democratic Chair Gene Wu of Houston said he helped organizers set up this weekend's Austin demonstration.
“We absolutely 100% sponsored this event," he explained, "as we’ve sponsored many events like this throughout the year. We are happy to support Texans who have simply had enough.”
Wu added that the event is not just a response to immigration raids, but to everything that Texans have been upset about for years, from cuts to Medicaid to the state’s proposed THC ban.
Recent demonstrations in Texas have been mostly peaceful, but tensions have flared at times. In Austin, more than a dozen people were arrested after hundreds gathered at the Texas Capitol. Police in Dallas fired pepper balls at demonstrators and made one arrest.
'You guys each have a voice'
These planned events are just the latest in a series of protests, including in San Antonio, against Trump administration policies, primarily ICE agents' arrests of immigrants.
On Wednesday, about 400 protesters gathered in downtown San Antonio to peacefully condemn those policies and arrests. Ice Villa, a San Antonio influencer, was credited with starting the grassroots protest with a post on her Instagram account.
After being turned away from The Alamo by Texas state troopers, the protesters assembled at San Antonio City Hall and then marched through the business district.
One speaker, Juan Castañeda, promised the crowd that "you guys each have a voice. Don't ever let anyone tell you to be silent. Your voice means way more than you think. There's people that are struggling, that fight so hard to have this voice, that are hiding in houses. ... I'll be damned if I let my voice go to waste!"
The deployment
Wednesday's demonstration came a day after city and police officials learned that Abbott deployed hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers to San Antonio. He deployed troops to other Texas cities too.
On Friday, the Austin American-Statesman obtained a memo explaining that the Guard is scrambling to find and train enough personnel to fulfill the deployment ahead of Saturday's protests.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said that Abbott did not coordinate with local officials on the deployment. McManus said his top priority is protecting protesters' First Amendment rights.
The memo obtained by the Statesman found that Abbott also had to pull about 2,500 troops from the Operation Lone Star border mission for the protest deployment. Abbott's office did not respond to TPR's request for comment.
The deployment echoed actions President Donald Trump had taken with National Guard and U.S. Marine forces in California in recent days.
The Texas Newsroom's Blaise Gainey and Lucio Vasquez contributed to this report.
