Millions of people participated in the “anti-Trump protests” held across the United States on the 14th, and in some areas, there were several incidents and accidents, including shootings and vehicle attacks on protesters, the American media reported on the 15th.The organizers of the “No Kings” rally, a progressive group, announced that millions of people participated in marches in 2,000 places across all 50 states of the United States the day before in resistance protests against the Trump administration.
In major cities such as Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago, tens of thousands of people gathered for the downtown marches, and local police reported that most of the protests were peaceful. However, in some areas, riots broke out, injuring several people, and the police had difficulty suppressing them.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, at around 7:56 p.m. the previous day, a shooting occurred at a downtown rally with about 10,000 people, and one person was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound.
Police announced on the same day that the victim was identified as a 39-year-old Utah resident named Arthur Polasa A Ru, and that he died while receiving treatment at the hospital. Police arrested and investigated two members of the organizers’ security team who were involved in the shooting, including 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa, who was found lying on the ground with a gunshot wound and an AR-15 rifle, and confirmed that Gamboa was the cause of the incident.
The security team members told the investigative authorities that Gamboa, wearing a black mask and black clothes, had shown suspicious behavior just before the incident and that they saw him take an AR-15 rifle out of his backpack and start operating it.
The agents pulled out their guns and ordered Gamboa to drop his weapon, but witnesses said Gamboa raised his rifle and began running toward the crowd of people on the street, holding the gun in a firing position.
One of the security officers then fired three shots at Gamboa, striking him once and killing another protester, Arthur Polasa a Ru, police said. Police added that they were continuing to investigate the incident, including what prompted Gamboa to charge into the crowd with a rifle.
Video from the scene shared online showed the crowd at the protest scattering and fleeing in panic as gunfire was heard.
After the shooting, police asked the protesters to leave the area “in a safe and orderly manner.”
In Culpeper, Virginia, a person was injured when an SUV plowed into a crowd as protesters were leaving the rally the afternoon of the previous day. Police arrested the 21-year-old male driver.
In San Francisco, a car plowed into a crowd of thousands of protesters downtown just after noon the previous day, injuring at least four people, NBC reported. The suspect, who drove away from the scene, was detained by police and is being questioned.
In Portland, Oregon, some protesters gathered in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in the evening, and federal agents fired tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber bullets to disperse them. Protesters also resisted by throwing water bottles and other objects, and police declared the scene a “riot” and arrested at least two people.
In Las Vegas, 15 people were arrested by police at two protests, one of whom was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon.
In Los Angeles (LA), some protesters resisted by throwing rocks, bricks, and water bottles as police attempted to disperse protesters using chemical irritants in the downtown area in the evening. Most protesters left the downtown area in time for the nightly curfew.LA Mayor Karen Bass told CNN that the downtown protest, attended by about 30,000 people, and the rallies held in 15 other areas of the city were “mostly peaceful.”
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) announced that from the previous day to this morning, 35 people were arrested for violating the curfew and three others for resisting and disobeying orders to disperse. Three officers were injured in the process.
The total number of arrests made by the LAPD in relation to the downtown LA protests since the 7th has increased to 561. In Austin, Texas, police temporarily closed the state capitol building, where the rally was taking place, after receiving reports of a material threat to some Democratic state legislators who were scheduled to attend the rally the morning before.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a “No Kings” rally was canceled after two state legislators were shot in quick succession the day before. A flyer that read “No Kings” was found inside the suspect’s car.