Hundreds attend ’emergency rally’ at Seattle’s Westlake Park
Jan 29, 2017, 2:12 PM | Updated: Jan 30, 2017, 6:12 am
Hundreds of people took to Seattle streets Sunday night to protest President Trump's executive order. SDOT tweeted that 4th and Pine was blocked. (SeattleDOT image)
(SeattleDOT image)
Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray joined more than a thousand people on Sunday who protested President Trump’s action that bars people from certain Muslim nations from entering the United States
The Sunday evening protest at Westlake Park in the city’s shopping district was the second anti-Trump protest in the Seattle area in two days. On Saturday night, 3,000 people flooded Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
On Sunday the protesters held signs that read “Proud to be an Immigrant” and “Refugees are not terrorists,” while people chanted “no ban, no wall.”
“We as a city will stand with immigrants and refugees,” said Murray
The “Stand with Immigrants!” emergency rally was organized by the group Americans for Refugees & Immigrants. Participants then marched through the city, on some of the busiest streets.
Related: Hundreds gather at Sea-Tac Airport to protest Trump’s executive order
The event mentioned Trump’s two orders regarding immigration policy and that “Numerous provisions within this order do little more than perpetuate xenophobia, mass incarceration, criminalization of immigrants and undocumented individuals, violence, heightened policing, and racial profiling. Seattle has been a beacon as a Sanctuary City for immigrants and Refugees. Now is the time that we must stand up and RESIST these orders, defend our communities, and fight for our immigrant family.”
During the rally, Mayor Murray encouraged people to support the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. The mayor is asking people to “bring light to these dark days” on Wednesday at 7 p.m., by lighting a candle, turning on a porch lamp, and shining a light “on the good as we fight Trump’s unAmerican orders.”
Follow @http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest
