Santa Fe Marches Against Trump

UPDATE: Santa Fe Police arrested at least three protesters during the march.

About two hundred protesters marched downtown on Saturday in a peaceful demonstration against President-elect Donald Trump.Police arrested at least three of the protestors, according to Mariel Nanasi, a civil rights attorney who attended the march. Among the arrestees was Sergio Muterperl, who was charged with battery on a police officer and two other misdemeanors. Police also detained at least two people during the march, giving them municipal citations, including a woman who jumped on top of her car and flashed her chest in support of passing protestors.

Starting from the Plaza, the marchers walked a loop that included parts of Guadalupe Street, Cerrillos Road and Paseo de Peralta. They chanted, “Not my president” and “Love trumps hate,” two catchphrases that have emerged since the Republican presidential candidate won the election in a shocking upset. Police cruisers followed along and blared sirens.

The protest brought out first-time marchers, like Shelley Morey and Suzanne Sloane, a married couple that saw the protesters marching by and decided to join. “I was involved a little bit in gay rights activism, but this seems much bigger,” Sloane said.

Reina Nelson, a student at the New Mexico School for the Arts, also attended her first protest on Saturday. “We elected someone against everything I stand for a young, queer person,” she told SFR.

Lauren Sarkissian, a student who has been involved in activism for years, said, “As a daughter of middle eastern immigrants, I am afraid.”
 

The march happened spontaneously, according to Muterperl, who is affiliated with Anonymous, the online activist movement. Members of One Billion Rising and Somos Un Pueblo Unido also participated in the march. "We all know each other, but this was never the intention," Muterperl said.

Once the group arrived back at the Plaza, Muterperl told the crowd he feared that police would attempt to single him out as the organizer of the protest. "We're not sheep," the crowd chanted in response.

The protest brought out marchers across different races and ages. Jennifer Bowker, a nurse from Santa Fe, marched with her son and her friend's two children. "I want to teach them their American rights," Bowker said.

Naeem Cabre, who is eight and three-quarters years old, took a speakerphone labeled "The Voice" as the crowd started to disperse from the Plaza.

“We shouldn’t hide our voices from Donald Trump because we’re not afraid of Donald Trump,” Cabre said. 

See more photos from the protest here.

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