What Did Attendees of Los Angeles’ No Kings Gathering Demand?
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FEATURING NO KINGS ATTENDEES, LOS ANGELES - Organizers of the October 18 No Kings rally expected five million people to attend about 2,600 gatherings across the United States in a show of opposition to President Donald Trump’s regime.
In Southern California, where this program is based, numerous local gatherings took place, and today as part of our on-going series, Rising Up in the Streets, I bring you a report from Hollywood and downtown LA where a cross section of attendees grappled with the state of the government and their vision for the future of the nation.
ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:
Sonali Kolhatkar: I'm Sonali Kolhatkar, reporting from the No Kings Rally in downtown Los Angeles. It's actually the tail end of the rally. And I was here among thousands of people at Gloria Molina Park right in front of Los Angeles City Hall, where a very, very diverse crowd of people was gathered, reflecting Los Angeles's demographics, but also an interesting political spectrum ranging from people who are aligned with a Democratic party all the way to folks who want a democratic socialist revolution, folks that were wearing kuffiyahs to express their solidarity with Palestine, as well as people who were expressing solidarity with protestors in Portland through large animal costumes, inflatable animal costumes.
And generally, there was an air of joy and also rage. And so here are some of the interviews that I gathered. I also went to Hollywood on the corner of Vermont and Hollywood where there was a gathering on a street corner, a very, very large gathering on a street corner with signs encouraging people to honk their horns. And there are, are some of the conversations that I had with people on the October 18th, No Kings Day.
Kim: My name is Kim. I am from Hollywood. And the reason I'm here today is so many reasons. Where to start? The fact that, you know, we have a person in the White House who is a narcissist, a sexual predator, and he just wants power for himself.
He doesn't care about the American people. He talks about this being a “Hate the America” rally when he's the one that actually hates this country and he's trying to tear us all apart, tear down our infrastructure, our democracy, and everything that makes this country great.