‘Message sent:’ Scenes from ‘No Kings’ march in Greater Lafayette
The demonstration, part of a national day of protest aimed at President Donald Trump, crowded a route that crossed from West Lafayette to the Tippecanoe County Courthouse in downtown Lafayette
Enough people showed up for Greater Lafayette’s edition of the “No Kings” demonstration – an event that spurred more than 2,000 similar marches Saturday in towns and cities across the country to protest President Donald Trump and his White House administration – that not everyone who started on the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge got a chance to make it to downtown Lafayette streets to circle the Tippecanoe County Courthouse.
Several hundred people at the tail end of a crowd working their way from the Margerum Fountain on the west side of the bridge were told to turn around as they closed in on the steps leading to Lafayette’s Riehle Plaza.
By then, the head of the march had circled a route of closed streets around the courthouse square and were clogging the sidewalks leading back to the bridge.
(Time lapse: Dave Bangert/Based in Lafayette)
“Turn around, they said,” Jess Bauer, a Lafayette resident, said as she back headed to West Lafayette’s Tapawingo Park, where a community fair was set up for speeches, songs from the band Frank Muffin and more than a dozen information tables from progressive groups.
“I told my friends, There goes our selfie with the courthouse in the background,” Bauer said. “But, damn, if it means we had so many people that we clogged the streets, I’ll take it. Message sent.”
Exact estimates for the crowd were hard to come by for the two-hour event that started at 2 p.m. Saturday.
But Lisa Dullum, a No Kings organizer with Greater Lafayette Indivisible, said she thought the crowd was much bigger than a protest that made a similar trek in June for the first “No Kings” event.
“A show of force is not the word I would use,” Dullum said. “But look at this place. I would say it’s a way for use to have our voices heard. We’re saying we’re unhappy with the lawlessness of our current president and the regime that is supporting it. … This isn’t the end of it. This is just another step. We’re out here to help get people connected with what they can do next to show that they’re frustrated with what’s happening and how they can do things to fix it.”
City officials agreed earlier in the week to close downtown streets around the courthouse as a security measure and to allow demonstrators to make their way around the courthouse. Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski said this week that organizers of the local No Kings demonstration had worked with both cities and the county, including police departments from all three, on safety measures for the event. The afternoon featured a conspicuous police presence on both sides of the Wabash River.
By 3:30 p.m., police had removed barricades and reopened downtown Lafayette streets.
“No problems to report, at all,” Lafayette Police Chief Scott Galloway said Saturday afternoon. “Everyone had a peaceful afternoon.”
The crowd was thick with signs aimed at Trump, his policies and actions since taking office for a second term in January.
“It gave me goosebumps,” Susie Lapcheska, a Lafayette resident, said about the march. “We had gone all the way around the courthouse and this whole group was still coming down the stairs, still coming off the bridge toward us. And I thought, There are people who get it – who know how important this is.”
“I’ve supported Republicans and I’ve supported Democrats, but right now, our democracy is in danger,” Bill Lapcheska, Susie Lapcheska’s husband, said. “We’ve got to speak up, period. This was my way of doing it.”
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
Great photos, thanks! It was a great afternoon.
Meanwhile, Trump was on the links, completely oblivious of the "no kings" rallies held throughout the country. Why does this remind me of the angry crowds protesting Nixon and Kissinger's decision to invade Cambodia fifty years ago? Sorry to be so cynical, but this well-intentioned event is yet another exercise in futility.