“A Closer Look Inside NOLA’s Anti-Trump Protest”
Yesterday, protesters gathered at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans to voice their outrage over President Trump’s appearance at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention. But was the local media’s reporting of the protest accurate, or not?
The marchers began at Canal Street & Convention Center Blvd. Monday afternoon and descended on the Central Business District with a police escort. The gathering of roughly 100 people remained peaceful as they chanted slogans in opposition to Trump’s plans to fund and construct a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The group was led by the founder of TakeEmDownNOLA, Malcolm Suber, who used a bullhorn to decry Trump as a racist and encouraged onlookers to join in by “grabbing a sign and getting in line.”
Oddly enough, some of the spectators watching from Canal Street quietly voiced their support for Trump amongst each other and said that the protesters should “get a job.” On the other hand, some young people who work in shops along Canal Street came out to cheer the marchers and used their smartphones to livestream videos.
Most of the protestors carried homemade signs displaying such messages as “Trump is the Emergency!” Many of these signs were later discarded, littering downtown sidewalks and side streets. The highlight was a golden statue mocking Trump as a pudgy Napoleon sitting on a World War II era atomic bomb.
A few of the marchers appeared to have been homeless men who simply joined in the fray. A few others are suspected of being out-of-towners, who were overheard asking for directions after the procession turned onto St. Charles Avenue and headed for the former Lee Circle. Only one male protestor was observed wearing the signature ANTIFA black bandana tied around his face.
In a lighter moment, a female correspondent with NPR’s local affiliate WWNO 89.9fm was observed holding a microphone in front of the U.S. federal building on Poydras Street and feverishly gathering together her equipment, as if she had just gotten hold of breaking news.
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