For three nights in a row, groups of protestors have taken to the streets of South Florida to express their fears and concerns about a new Donald Trump administration.
Miami, one of the most diverse cities in the U.S., was the scenario of protests on Friday evening, when thousands of protesters shouting anti-Donald Trump chants, like “hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go,” and “not my president,” marched in downtown Miami.
Similar chants were heard down Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, where hundreds of people concentrated to protest on Sunday evening, blocking traffic in the popular tourist destination. The night before, a group also protested in Wynwood.
The Miami march began in front of Bayfront Amphitheater and eventually the protesters reached the MacArthur Causeway.
They blockaded one of the largest causeways in the city, which connects downtown to Miami Beach
Megan Shade helped coordinate the protest.
“A lot of people are here for different reasons. People are angry, and so what I want this to be is for us to release that anger and for us to be able to move to a progressive movement.” Shade said.
Shade worked for the Florida Democratic Party during the campaign.
At the protest she wore a pink felt embroidered uterus patch on her shirt, as well as different hashtags in support of equality and women’s rights.
She said the Facebook event-page for the protest had 128 confirmed attendees right after the election results on Tuesday -- and by Friday, nearly 3,000 had signed up.
Marchers included advocates for LGBT rights, Planned Parenthood, undocumented immigrants, Muslims and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Nabillah Mohammad, was at the protest, angry at some of the hateful rhetoric that has come out of the Trump campaign against Muslim Americans.
“I feel oppressed in some ways… to divide us and label us and single us out and tell us that we’re not welcome here, it’s a problem because I’m an American citizen,” Mohammad said.
During his campaign Donald Trump also promised to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.
This scares protester, Roberto Benavidas, an undocumented engineering student at Miami Dade College.
“I feel uneasy; my mother and my brother are still undocumented. So I’m here for them, for myself to fight for my rights in this community,” Benavidas said.
The protest was peaceful overall, but by no means quiet or gratifying to those who were stuck in traffic.
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