A couple hundred people turned out Saturday morning in downtown Pottsville for the latest No Kings protest.
The event was one of the largest of all the No Kings protests held in Schuylkill County since the beginning of the second term of President Donald Trump. Demonstrators occupied the entire intersection of Centre and Market streets downtown.
A small group of counter-protestors assembled about 50 feet from one of the groups of No Kings protestors. With the exception of one minor yet loud skirmish between the groups, the gathering was peaceful.
Sue, from Boston, said she came to Pottsville to visit a friend and “be in a place where my presence might make even more of a difference.”
She said where she lives, it’s teeming with Democrat voters and decided for something different for this latest No Kings rally.
“I wanted to literally protest an area that is, if you will, Trump country or fully Republican,” she said.
When we asked if she felt her presence was making a difference, Sue said, “Yes, in the sense that a number of people have said this is one of the strongest turnouts they’ve ever seen.”
Sue also cited historian and the author of the “Letters from an American” Substack Heather Cox Richardson in saying, “If x percent of people actually protest and stand up and stand out, it can change things. Personally, I think it’s important. I think it’s important as well.
Barbara, from Orwigsburg, said she came out Saturday because “there’s so much that’s still going wrong. Our politicians don’t seem to be responding the way they need to. So, unless we keep pressure going and letting them know that we’re still out here and we’re still unhappy and things are still bad, nothing’s going to change.”
She said one issue, in particular, that brought her to the protest in Pottsville is ICE and the possibility of a detention center opening in Tremont Township.
“It just can’t happen. This isn’t the United States. This is crazy,” Barbara said. “Those are concentration camps. It just can’t happen.”
Rick Watcher, who organized the counter-protest on Saturday, told Coal Region Canary that he felt it was necessary to come out “for the same reason they’re out here, to make our voices heard.
“We can disagree. It doesn’t have to be violent. We can disagree,” Watcher said.
As for the other side’s message, Watcher said, “It’s ridiculous. You want to be a communist country? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
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