What You Need to Know About the Women’s March Day of Civil Disobedience
UPDATE (1:47 pm EST): Eyewitnesses report that protesters have shut down 10th street outside of the Department of Justice in Washington DC, chanting “We care” and “Abolish ICE.”
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There’s no doubt that times are dark right now, but activists are still holding strong and fighting back. Today, the Women’s March is leading a day of “civil disobedience” in Washington DC to protest the Trump administration’s policies that separate and incarcerate migrant families.
Though president Trump signed an executive order temporarily halting family separation last week, migrant children are still being detained separately from their parents, asylum-seekers are still in detention, and the so-called zero tolerance policy is still in place at the border. The administration may be making surface-level moves to create the appearance that conditions are improving at the border, but there’s still a full-blown humanitarian crisis.
Many protests, fundraisers, and other organized direct support actions have been happening around the country in support of migrants and asylum-seekers. Right now the Women’s March is in the streets, geared up for what the organization is calling “mass civil disobedience.”
Here’s what you need to know about the protest.
We are calling for all women to join us for a mass civil disobedience in DC on Thursday, 6/28, to demand this administration stop criminalizing undocumented immigrants and tearing children away from their parents.#WomenDisobey to #EndFamilyDetention https://t.co/7IxTkxYr6N pic.twitter.com/TQ9nKKxntf
— Women's March (@womensmarch) June 20, 2018
who is participating in the action?
Thousands of women and allies have joined @womensmarch in the streets of Washington D.C. to launch #WomenDisobey to commit a mass act of civil disobedience to say #EndFamilyDetention and #AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/lZuM8UV6xQ
— Kyle O'Leary (@tkocreative) June 28, 2018
Initial reports indicate that thousands of activists, many of them women, are currently marching in the nation’s capital. Prominent members of Women’s March Inc. including Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory were at the front of the mass of protesters.
what is the protest?
Marchers stop in front of Trump hotel to shout “No ban! No wall! America is home to all!” #WomensMarch @womensmarch pic.twitter.com/GGaCxVBbY7
— Karolina Rivas (@karolinarrivas) June 28, 2018
The organizers of the protest have so far been quiet about what exactly the civil disobedience will look like and where exactly it will take place. However, the website that the Women’s March set up for today’s protest notes that there is a possibility that arrests could take place.
What do you think? Tell us on Twitter @BritandCo.
(Featured photo by Spencer Platt/Getty)