Anchorage is bracing for two days of high-profile demonstrations this week, as political groups take to the streets ahead of and during President Donald Trump’s visit to Alaska.
On Thursday, anti-Trump organizations, led by the Outside-based 50501 group, along with Stand Up Alaska, Alaska Forward, and Alaska March On, will rally along the Seward Highway at the Midtown Mall from 4:30 to 5:30 pm. The event is billed as “Alaska Stands with Ukraine,” described by organizers as a peaceful protest in solidarity with the Eastern European nation.
The 50501 group, a prominent anti-Trump organization, has been publicly praised by US Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Earlier this year, she told public broadcasting listeners: “I think that type of engagement is important and people shouldn’t feel discouraged because, ‘well, I haven’t seen anything change since the last week that I went to go protest.’ Keep the engagement up.” Murkowski has in recent months encouraged Alaskans to protest Trump directly.
The next day, pro-Trump Alaskans plan to claim the same Midtown Mall location. A “President Trump Rally” will be held on Friday, Aug. 15, from 11 am to 1 pm, at the same corner. Supporters are being urged to bring Trump signs, American flags, and “Alaska Republican pride” to show the former president that “Alaska stands strong with him and with our conservative values.” Organizers say they want Midtown Anchorage “filled with a sea of red, white, and blue.”
Meanwhile, another large-scale anti-Trump demonstration is being organized for Friday at the Delaney Park Strip, near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. That protest is expected to draw one of the largest turnouts Anchorage has seen against Trump.
With rival demonstrations planned back-to-back — and on the same day as Trump’s Alaska events — Anchorage can expect a politically charged weekend that will spotlight the patriotic Alaskans and the ones who hate Trump and everything he does.
The paid protesters will be out in force, we should have zero tolerance for violence and property destruction.
Knock yourselves out, commie half-wits. Trump and Putin will never see your hilariously stupid “protest”, because they’ll never leave JBER.
Elections have consequences, you radical leftists.
Go curl up in your space spaces with your binkys.
If you are an old school Republican, you know history, and why appeasing a gangster dictator like Putin is not okay.
Comrade Putin is a state sponsor of terror. He is a murderer; he has caused the deaths of many Ukrainian children. Tens of thousands of innocent people have been killed by Putin. Nearly a million Russians are now dead or injured. Putin has acted like every other communist dictator- suppress free speech, religion, and kill anyone who gets in their way.
Lets hope these protests detract from the PR/redemption Putin hopes to gain.
This POS is NOT welcome in my state.
With the USAID funds being reined in the anti protest have diminished in size significantly.
Believing there are two sides shows ignorance. Republicans and Democrats are in one big club and we’re not in it. Everything you’ve ever been taught is a lie. It’s theatre and we all have been given a front row seat. I walked out of the theater a long time ago. The awakening has been happening and for many they choose to stay in their slumber. Once you see truth you can’t under it.