PHOTOS: Crowds gather for May Day Strong Across Montco protests

AMBLER — A crowd in downtown Ambler joined hundreds across Montgomery County Thursday to protest against President Donald Trump’s actions as part of a nationwide protest to coincide with May Day, which is International Workers’ Day.

An estimated 200 people showed up to take part in one of a dozen May Day Strong Across Montco protests. The protests provided a forum for people to express their objections to Trump, his policies and his decisions during the early days of his second term.

“I really feel that the resistance must build in this country. Donald Trump needs to be impeached and ousted as our president. That’s why I’m here,” said Chestnut Hill resident Ralph Purvis.

“I really have a problem with the way Trump is dismantling democracy, and our country has made spent 250 years building up a kind place that looks after other people, and what’s happening now is that Donald Trump … is really making the country into a place that is cold and uncaring, and I have a problem with that,” said Flourtown resident Mark Greenberg.

People’s Rally crowd brings ‘grassroots activism’ to Montgomery County from around region

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‘We have to do something’

A steady stream of drivers honked their horns as traffic crossed the intersection of Butler Avenue and Main Street and demonstrators cheered in response. While the initial plan was to have activity centered at that intersection, participants were stretched along the borough’s main thoroughfare. People were heard cycling through a number of chants, including “vote him out,” “hey, hey. Ho ho. Donald Trump has got to go,” as well as “the people united will never be defeated,” and “show me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.”

“I think it’s important for Americans to voice their opinion about how the things that are happening right now just don’t seem normal in a normal democracy, and I wanted to be here to lend my voice to support the concept that this president is very unpopular,” said Ambler resident Kathy Garrett.

“We have to do something to let them know we don’t want this and we’re really unhappy, and I think these people are showing it today,” said Maple Glen resident Judy Coe.

“I think it’s up to all of us to make a change, and so many people are asking what can I do. And this is what we can do,” Greenberg said. “We can go out and show that there are a lot of our fellow citizens who are not comfortable with what’s happening with the assault on democracy.”

Attendees of the May Day Strong Across Montco event directed their anger at Trump’s actions on a number of big ticket issues including health care, tariffs and ‘violations of due process’ concerning the mass deportations associated with Trump’s federal immigration crackdown.

“But really Trump is not abiding by the law, and so what we’re seeing is one man who’s decided that he’s above the law,” Greenberg said. “He’s been at odds with the courts. In a democracy, courts are what we need to decide disputes, and he’s decided he’s above the law.”

Funding cuts are troubling

The shuttering federal agencies and slashing of jobs infuriated Blue Bell resident Don Sheaff.

“My father was an Army veteran, I’m a Navy veteran, my son’s a Marine veteran, and I’ll be damned if he’ll piss on us while I’m alive,” he said. “I’m standing here in protest to the way he’s treated the veterans, the way he’s decimated the veterans administration and just totally disregarding our laws and the constitution, and thinking he could get away with anything, and this is not America.”

Possible cuts to Social Security were of great concern to Coe, and her daughter, who is disabled, who both depend on financial assistance.

“If he starts messing with that, we live together. We’re totally screwed,” she said.

Demonstrators stressed the importance of engagement and exercising their rights to assemble.

“If we don’t stand up now, this country is not going to be a democracy anymore. It’s on the verge of it now,” Sheaff said. “We’ve got to do something, and what else can we do besides calling our congressmen besides writing letters? We’re not going to be violent, but we are going to make our voice heard, and we’re not going to stop.”

Hundreds turn up to Dean’s congressional town hall at MCCC

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Grass roots message

While U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th Dist. held a town hall meeting earlier this month at Montgomery County Community College, demonstrators on Thursday stressed further action is needed from elected officials.

“I think a grass roots movement is where we need to go because I don’t believe that we can count on Congress,” said Ambler resident Connie Fiorentino.

“The people in Congress have to get it that they are so out of step. The Republican senators have got to get it, and the Republicans in the House have got to get it that they are swimming against the tide, that what they are voting for is incredibly unpopular, and this is one way to tell them,” said Janet Mather, of Chestnut Hill.

May Day across the U.S.

May Day demonstrations took place in cities across the nation, with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, headlining a rally in Philadelphia that drew thousands to the City of Brotherly Love, according to media reports.

Community for Change Lead Organizer Stephanie Vincent said an estimated 1,400 people turned out to the May Day Strong Across Montco protests throughout the collar county.

High participation rates were recorded in several areas, Vincent said. Along with Ambler, another 300 others were accounted for in Abington, and there were roughly 150 each reported in Collegeville, Harleysville and Pottstown. Additional events were held in Conshohoken, Eagleville, Harleysville, Norristown, Souderton, and West Norriton Township.

Vincent said in a phone interview ahead of Thursday’s planned rallies how it’s paramount for demonstrators to “stand up [for] what you’re for, not just what you’re against” when it comes to the “May Day Strong” mindset. She added that rights and defending democracy were top of mind as tensions continue to rise.

“I think people are waking up to a greater truth that things are really broken. Our systems are failing,” Vincent said, stressing how it’s “not just to fight against Trump, and fight against oligarchy, but it’s also trying to demand a better country that takes care of people, that gives us what we deserve.”

A majority of motorists were in support of the demonstrators situated along the borough’s main thoroughfare, but one passerby could be heard yelling at protestors to “get a life.”

When asked for comment about the protests taking place throughout Montgomery County, Christian Nascimento, chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Committee, told MediaNews Group: “The protests are a tired page out of a tired playbook. All political theater.”

“Every American has the right to protest, that’s what makes this country great, but all these folks are just screaming that they don’t like Trump, they’re not offering any real solutions to the people that they propose to be speaking for,” Nascimento said.