On the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump's second inauguration, hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Tucson, protesting the administration's aggressive crackdown on immigrants and activism, as well as Trump's unilateral strike in Venezuela and threats against other nations.
The sound of whistles, drums and clanging pots filled the air Tuesday afternoon, as the raucous-but-celebratory crowd chanted and waved signs outside Tucson's federal building at 300 W. Congress St., before a planned march began. Protesters lined both sides of Congress and the Garcés Footbridge that spans the roadway.
By 4:45 p.m., Tucson police estimated between 400 and 500 people had gathered around the federal building, as dozens of passing vehicles honked in support. Organizers estimated around 2,000 people attended, but the Arizona Daily Star couldn't independently verify that figure.
As part of a national day of protest, local organizers had planned a "cacerolazo," a boisterous form of nonviolent protest in which participants make lots of noise, often by banging pots and pans.
Even two hours before the protest's official start time, hundreds had already gathered in anticipation at the federal building, where immigration court is held in Tucson, said organizer Bennett Burke, of Defend Tucson, a grassroots coalition of 20 local advocacy groups.
"Our goals are as they have been for a long time: to oppose the cruelty, the illegality, the unconstitutionality of everything Trump is doing, specifically and most recently this absolutely illegal invasion of Venezuela, to steal their oil," Burke said.
Protesters make their way down Congress Street on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump's second inauguration.
On the north side of Congress, one man played Woody Guthrie's folk song "This Land Is Your Land" on the accordion, as others beat bongos and drums nearby, waving American flags, both upright and upside-down, the latter a symbol of distress.
Addressing the crowd with a megaphone before the march began, Aurora Ramírez of the Party for Socialism and Liberation said the Defend Tucson/Tucson Se Defiende coalition was fighting for their immigrant neighbors, and against "Trump's overreach and authoritarianism."
"We recognize that we are a force when we work in solidarity," Ramírez said. "On the one-year anniversary of Trump's second term, we've seen in just the last two weeks that Trump does not care about the people. He only cares about terrorizing and scape-goating our immigrant neighbors, and starting a war for resources that only benefit the billionaire class."
Ramírez called out the Democratic Party for failing to fight back against Trump's actions that she says are harming the U.S. on multiple fronts: health care costs, cuts to vital social services, environmental damage and erosion of civil rights.
"Trump has been attacking our fundamental rights on all fronts," Ramírez said, asking the crowd, "And where have the Democrats been?"
"Nowhere!" the crowd yelled.
Protesters hold signs along Congress Street on Tuesday.
"Nowhere," she said. "It's gonna take 'people power' to change this system."
Police eventually closed Congress Street and Broadway, before the protest crowd began marching east past the Veinte de Agosto Park, where Congress turns into Broadway, and continuing east on Broadway before turning near the Fourth Avenue intersection, to return west via Congress Street.
Marching down Congress Street, Linda and Lowell Stolte said they've been in Tucson only a week, and are visiting from Minnesota, where an unarmed mother of three, Renee Good, was fatally shot by an ICE agent earlier this month.
"We feel guilty about not being in Minneapolis right now, so we were thrilled to find out they were protesting down here," Linda Stolte said. "We especially want justice for Renee Good, as well as (to protest) the violence that ICE is inflicting upon people. It's horrendous."
Tucson High senior Quinn, 18, who asked that her last name not be published, said she was among a large number of students from the high school who walked out of class Tuesday, first marching on campus before walking over to the larger protest on Congress.
Quinn said much of her life has been marked by political turmoil, as Trump was elected to his first term when she was in kindergarten. But the current U.S. government doesn't reflect what she was taught to love about the United States and the country's values, including diversity, she said.
"Hate" from the nation's leaders has "sadly become the new normal for me and my community," she said. "I come from a family of immigrants. I come from a family that is proud to be native, proud to be Mexican, and I want to speak up for my family and my friends and those who are afraid to speak up, and those who can't speak up because of their immigration status. ... Today, I feel a little bit more hopeful that the world will change, slowly but surely."
A car of supporters drives by the downtown Tucson protest Tuesday against the Trump administration.
Hundreds of Tucson students walked out of classes Tuesday as part of the national call to action. Tucson and Sunnyside Unified School Districts sent letters to parents earlier this week advising them that they wouldn't stop students from leaving, but that it would be an unexcused absence.
TUSD spokesperson Karla Escamilla said a "few hundred" TUSD students participated, from at least eight high schools, including Catalina, Cholla, Pueblo, Tucson, Sahuaro, Sabino, Rincon and University.
David Rosas, 18, a student at Toltecalli High School, said he marched Tuesday out of pride in his own Mexican roots.
"Not many immigrants like myself have a voice, so I see myself as a voice for them, especially for my mom, my sister and my grandmom," he said. "With all the violence going on, it feels like it needs to stop. ... (Before now) it's always just been racism towards us, but it's never been violence like this before."
Protest participant Max Rowe, 40, said despite his busy schedule, it was important for him to join his mother at the protest, to oppose Trump's actions that he said undermine the rule of law.
"I'm a traditional supporter of law and justice and constitutional rights, and I believe we're in a moment where many of those things are under threat," he said. "I think there is a sense of false patriotism, and it worries me that there are so many people ignoring these kinds of justice issues."
As the sun started dipping below the city's skyline, hundreds of protesters passed under the Garcés Footbridge, the pedestrian bridge across Congress Street, between Church and Granada.
Watching the procession from atop the footbridge, a protest participant named Lynn said the view brought tears to her eyes. She asked that her last name not be published, for fear of retaliation.
"It's a relief," she said, of the crowd size. "It's the America I hope for. It makes you realize you're not alone. When you read the news, and you think everything's going to hell, it's amazing to see that this city cares."
The roads reopened around 6:30 p.m., as protesters regrouped at the federal building for music and for additional speakers, who spoke in support of Palestine. Speakers also decried Israel's ongoing violation of a "ceasefire," and what they called its strikes targeting journalists to keep events in Gaza out of the news.
