At least four protests against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump were planned for Boston today, but after he reportedly cancelled his fund-raiser scheduled for this afternoon at the Langham Hotel in the Financial District, one by one protest organizers cancelled their plans.
But a determined group of about 15 people, many of them affiliated with the Massachusetts Sierra Club, protested against Trump at Post Office Square, across from the hotel, beginning around 11:20 a.m. “Dump Trump!” they chanted.
“Donald Trump cancelled because he was so afraid of us here,” Emily Norton, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, said into a megaphone. “That’s probably not true. But we’ll be ready for him when he comes back.”
Norton charged that Trump was a prejudiced against women, but “This November women will be in the voting booth and this January a woman—who knows, maybe two women—will be in the White House.”
“Trump denies climate change is happening,” said a man who identified himself as a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “He is ridiculous.”
Soon a man in a suit who said he was with Friends of Post Office Square security said the protesters had to leave. “It’s actually private [property], open to the public,” he told them. “I support what you’re doing. You just can’t do it here. … Without a permit from the Friends of Post Office Square, you can’t do any sort of soliciting.”
As the group politely moved along, he shouted after them, “Dump Trump! I’m with you guys. Believe me.”
The group crossed the street to protest in front of the Langham Hotel, where security also soon came out and said the group could not stand in front of the hotel, but was allowed to protest at the street corner. So they moved there and continued shouting anti-Trump slogans and singing classic protest anthems like “This Little Light of Mine” and “We Shall Overcome.”
A woman walking by shouted, “Shut up, liberal hacks!” One of the protesters swore at her, but the others calmed her down. Then a woman passing by gave the group high fives, saying, “Yes! Get rid of that orange pumpkin.”
