With much of the government shut down, health care cuts looming, and ICE raids taking place in small towns, numerous protests of the Trump administration are scheduled for Saturday in Ohio.
Government agencies have been closed since the start of October, with congressional Republicans lacking the votes to fund operations.
Democrats are holding out, in part, for an extension of subsidies for individual health insurance that would keep premiums from doubling for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans at the start of next year.
Federal employees are starting to receive partial paychecks as a result of the shutdown.
In addition, President Donald Trump is deploying troops to cities in Democratic states on false claims that they’re war zones.
A federal judge he appointed ruled that his claim about Portland “was simply untethered to the facts.“
After taking controversial actions in places like Chicago, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement upset people in Mount Vernon in Knox County.
About 120 protested Sunday in the town square over an ICE raid last week of a beloved Mexican restaurant, the news organization Knox Pages reported.
Further protests are coming on Saturday.
Dozens of No Kings protests are scheduled across Ohio as part of more than 2,500 that will take place nationally.
“Building on the momentum of the June 14 day of action, which drew more than five million people across all 50 states, the October 18 mobilization is the next chapter in this growing movement,” organizers said in a written statement.
“Together, millions will send a clear and unmistakable message: we are a nation of equals, and our country will not be ruled by fear or force.”
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The events are being sponsored by more than 100 organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Common Cause, and Indivisible.
Mia Lewis is assistant director of Common Cause Ohio and a volunteer with Indivisible Central Ohio. She said 23 protests are planned for the area.
Rallies will take place in communities such as Newark, Reynoldsburg, Marysville, and Grove City earlier Saturday afternoon.
Then things will culminate with a 4 p.m. rally at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.
Lewis said she hoped people would attend both.
“I think it’s really important that there are protests in people’s neighborhoods,” she said.
“It’s not just about the number of people who come out. It’s about the number of people who are passing by and see that their neighbors and their friends and fellow citizens are out taking a stand. I think that’s a really important message.”
In an era when the reach of traditional news organizations is diminishing, Lewis said it’s also vital for people to peacefully take to the streets in an attempt to highlight what’s happening.
For example, many might not know that a big part of the shutdown battle is over health care subsidies.
“It’s hard because there are these pockets of information that people are in,” Lewis said.
“But when people realize that their subsidy for their health care is going to go away and it’s going to be really hard to afford health care; when they see cities having masked troops attacking non-violent people… and the shutdown is scary for a lot of people… I think this will bring a lot of people out.”
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