On Thursday (May 1), a group of two dozen protesters gathered outside of the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center in Bethel, waving signs alongside American and Ukrainian flags to passing lunchtime traffic.
Handpainted signs proclaimed “Veterans against Trump,” "Impeach tyranny," and “fight the oligarchy.”
Protester Bethy Whalen said her sign spoke to Trump’s voters who feel they didn’t sign up for the policies of the Trump administration.
“It says ‘On the economy,’ and this was what Donald Trump said: ‘Well, they did sign up for it. Actually, this is what I campaigned on,” Whalen read.
But, Whalen said, at this point, after the actions of Trump’s first 100 days in office, the protests don’t hinge on pre-election polarization. She said it’s about what can be done now.
“Anybody who wants to can come out to these protests, especially people who voted for Donald Trump, and are seeing now that they actually don't want the world that he's creating, the country that he's creating,” Whalen said.
The protest is the most recent iteration of a string of similar demonstrations, including one just two weeks ago outside of Watson’s corner. Like its two predecessors, the May Day protest was part of a wide-reaching demonstration. This one also fell on International Workers’ Day.
The holiday celebrating the working classes has historically been used as a day of advocacy for workers' rights. But this year, protests across the globe also spoke out against U.S. politics specifically, particularly in light of the administration's recently-imposed international tariffs.
Groups held similar signs in marches throughout Alaska and as far as the Philippines, France, and Japan, displaying their opposition to the Trump administration’s actions and agenda.
In Bethel, the group of protesters gathered honks and waves from some passersby before dissipating into the Thursday afternoon.
