By Julie BUTCHER

Hours before its start and for blocks around, people were streaming to the “No Kings” rally on Saturday at Glendale City Hall to protest the actions of the Trump administration against immigrants and to lift their collective voices in favor of democracy. Protestors carried flags from all of the countries with proud heritage in the area; though American flags dominated, flags were seen representing Mexico, Armenia, Honduras, Guatemala and others. 

And that was just in Glendale.

People were chanting and there were so many signs – tons of people walked up and back. The crowd packed the front of city hall and extended around the block, up Glendale Avenue and across Broadway. The protest was peaceful and no incidents of any kind were reported. A festive salsa band – Los Vecinos, anchored by accordionist and keyboard player Elliott Baribeault – kept people dancing.

Self-described Eagle Rock “middle class white lady teacher” Kate McFadden said she was there because “we’ve never seen this level of tyranny.” McFadden wore a Dodgers-inspired shirt that read Hateproof.

“We’re taking back the fight, taking back the streets,” she said. “Protesting is the most patriotic thing we can do right now.”

Three Glendale siblings held a Mexican and American flag tied together “for my father,” the son explained. It was his idea to tie the two flags together. 

“Aren’t these countries and all these people tied and linked together?” he asked. “Isn’t that what this country’s all about?”

“It’s a shame that we have to fight like this, for basic human rights,” he added. “My father is an immigrant. He works so hard. He came here searching for the American dream.” He went on to explain why he and his sisters were standing behind these two flags on the corner of Broadway and Isabel Street. This is the first time they have attended a protest of any kind, the young man’s sisters added.

Another attendee explained that she was at the action because “I see people in all [of] our neighborhoods who are terrified. I am appalled that families are being ripped apart and we have to say ‘No!’”

At one point during the afternoon someone needed medical attention. The crowd parted and left an area of lawn cleared for the paramedics to provide care, then cheered for the police and paramedics once they were done.

Organizers estimated attendance at 10,000 at the Glendale rally and cite “expert crowd-size estimators at Alt National Park Service, which has aggregated turnout for [the] ‘No Kings’ events nationwide at 12.1 million” – turning out for more than 2100 smaller or larger gatherings in every state in the U.S.

Hans Johnson, president of the local group East Area Progressive Democratic Club (EAPD), which helped organize the Glendale event, welcomed the crowd. 

“We gather here in the presence of heroes, living and gone, who showed what it means to stand up for freedom and to protect our democracy from all enemies foreign and domestic,” Johnson said. “Thanks to all our veterans and service members here today.”

He concluded his welcoming remarks: “We honor them with peaceful, patriotic protest to say that as Americans we bend no knee to wannabe dictators. We bow and scrape or cower or endure intimidation and coercion by no king!

“And as Americans we defend our Constitution and vow to volunteer and vote to resist thuggery and to defeat cruelty, corruption, hate, deceit and destruction of the American Dream by Trump and his parade of incompetents. 

“We are bigger than that. Today we are a mighty demonstration of peaceful ‘People Power.’ We are better than that. And together, with staying power, and [by] volunteering, and voting, and acting locally, we will defeat this tyrant, end this nightmare, and bring about a brighter day.”

According to Johnson, speakers at the #NoKingsGlendaleNELA protest rally included Suzie Abajian, Glendale city clerk; Andra Hoffman, LACCD board member; Dan Brotman, Glendale councilmember; Sasha Renée Pérez, California State Senator; Jennie Quiñónez Skinner, librarian, representing American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Union Local 2276; Neda Farid, GUSD board member; and Laura Friedman, U.S. congressperson. 

Most people chanted and greeted each other, chatted and gathered; danced and blew bubbles and horns and whistles. Others marched along the sidewalk and some listened to the speakers.