“It is important to understand that there are thousands of people here for thousands of reasons,” said Tina Taylor, event organizer. “It can kind of be capsulized as in the idea that we are all wanting to not allow authoritarianism to take over our country.”

The ‘No Kings’ protest in Marquette saw counter actions, in the form of those driving by, yelling at protestors or intentionally blowing smoke at them with their vehicles. The line of protesters was nearly a mile long, with protestors lining both sides of the highway, from the Holiday Inn in Marquette to the Comfort Suites.

“We know that not everyone agrees with us,” said Taylor.

Taylor noted she stopped at every business along the protesters route, to let them know about the increased foot traffic and to allow them to make any kind of preparations they needed to.

“A super important message from me is that you don’t have to give up being a Republican to not want the current administration to do what it is doing,” said Taylor.

The protest comes after ICE crackdowns in Portland and Chicago, and the government shutdown now in its 20th day, which nears the second longest shutdown of 21 days during Bill Clinton’s tenure as president and the longest shutdown which was 35 days and in Donald Trump’s first term as president.

Marquette protesters were also asked to bring non-perishable food and cleaning supplies that will be donated to local food pantries in the U.P. Protests were also held throughout the U.P. in places other than Marquette like Escanaba, Houghton, Iron Mountain, Crystal Falls, Sault Ste. Marie, Ironwood, Newberry, St Ignace and Marinette, Wisconsin

Antonio Anderson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. His email address is aanderson@miningjournal.net.