About 50 demonstrators rallied in Times Square in conjunction with 14 other cities to highlight the deaths of 200,000 people due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demonstrators organized by RefuseFacism.org, railed against President Donald Trump for failing to take proper measures to protect people from the contagion. They added the virus to a laundry list of complaints about the administration that includes the president’s statement that he will try to appoint a new, conservative justice to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat.
“We face a rolling coup barreling to a showdown on Nov. 3. The Trump/Pence regime have said and shown that they will not abide by an election they lose,” Coco Das, spokesman for RefuseFacism.org. “A new path of sustained, non-violent protest is being blazed. A force is gathering that must grow that will not stop until this fascist regime is driven from power. We must make this OUR time, not Trump’s.”
Carl Dix, another activist with RefuseFacism.org said the administration has not taken the virus seriously, resulting in many deaths.
“Trump deliberately deceived the world about the danger of the virus at the cost of tens of thousands of lives,” Dix said. “Bob Woodward got it on tape! Now, Trump continues to lie, assail science, traffic in conspiracy theories, hold super-spreading rallies, and sabotage attempts to contain the pandemic. Many of those lost – disproportionately Latinx, Black and Native American – Trump would have gladly killed off anyway.”
Andy Zee, also an activist with RefuseFacism.org, said the president was attempting to sabotage the election while ignoring the pandemic.
“We must rise now, as millions did earlier this year for Black lives, uniting and preparing to struggle with all we’ve got to oust this fascist regime and bring its program to a halt,” Zee said. “Our actions must lead into an October of people from many different backgrounds and viewpoints coming together week after week, day after day, in growing continuing nonviolent protests that do not stop until this demand is met.”
The protest was peaceful and police reported no arrests.
