By Devin Rodriguez
drodriguez7@mail.usf.edu
Over 1,000 people gathered at Demens Landing near campus to march in protest against President-Elect Donald Trump.
Protest leaders called the St. Petersburg Police Department before they began at 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 13. Then marched across Beach Drive and up First Avenue N. toward Williams Park.
The group announced before demonstrating that violence was not welcome and that the police would help protect and guide the protesters.
Student Mariah Joy, a sophomore English major, attended the protest with her friend Erika Tubens, a junior criminology major.
Joy wasn’t surprised by Trump’s win. Many of her family members voted Republican, she said.
“I”m here in solidarity for my friends. I want them to know that I support them,” Joy said. “I’m also here for the people who voted for Trump. I want them to know that I don’t agree with what they stand for.”
Joy and Tubens recorded their experience on Facebook live.
“I’m receiving a lot of hate in my feed,” Tubens said, checking her phone. “A lot of people aren’t happy to see the protest.”
Chanters repeated, “Not my president,” “love trumps hate” and “hey, oh, president Trump has to go,” through the streets.
For the past five days, protests have been held throughout the United States. Cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Cincinnati have protested in peace. So far the only incident of violence occurred in Portland, Oregon where 71 protesters were arrested, according to the Oregonian.
These protests come at a divisive time after a controversial election. USF Tampa released an email urging students to remain civil after a report of vandalism on campus. Racist graffiti was scrawled in dry-erase across a wall that threatened violence if Hillary Clinton won. No suspects have been identified.
Another protest was scheduled on Facebook for 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Enigma, a bar on Central Avenue. The protest supports the LGBT community and has 212 people registered as going at the time of this report.
