A crowd of protestors in St. Charles Saturday gathered to express their concerns with various recent actions of the Trump administration, including the contentious meeting Friday between the president and the leader of Ukraine.
The rally along South Randall Road drew a few hundred protestors.
At the rally, Karen Sherman of Elgin described current events in the world as “insanity.”
“After yesterday, I just can’t let it go anymore,” she said, referring to the heated exchange between President Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
Trump berated Zelenskyy for being “disrespectful” Friday in an Oval Office meeting, then abruptly called off the signing of a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia, the Associated Press reported.
The protest rally Saturday in St. Charles was led by the Fox Valley-based group We Can Lead Change.
Gina Burbsch of St. Charles said the rally was planned before Friday’s events with the Ukrainian leader at the White House, but said that “what happened there with Trump just fanned the flames.”
“We have had this planned for a bit, but yes, with the show that happened in the Oval Office yesterday, we really knew that people were going to come out for this today,” Burbsch said on Saturday. “People are mad, people are angry and they need to be here. We have over 300 people here and this is one of the biggest turnouts we’ve ever had.”
Burbsch said that protests can make a difference.
“People need to see there are other people that believe like they believe and that their feelings are real, that this is something we have to stop as people in this country,” she said. “We cannot let this happen. We’re really seeing a lot of emotions and fury, and having something like this is really good for people.”
Sue Sanders of St. Charles said she has been a member of the We Can Lead Change group since its inception and that Saturday’s event “may be the most intense” she has seen.
“After the event yesterday in the Oval Office, I think people … I met someone who has never been out here before and she cried on my shoulder,” Sanders said. “She said ‘I just needed something.’”
Gary Crouse, from Elgin, said it was important for him to support the protest “because I defended this country for six years in the United States Navy.”
“Russia has always been our enemy. I can’t believe my president is prostrating himself in front of a country that has thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at every one of our cities,” he said.
Gordon Koizmi of Batavia said he was a member of the We Can Lead Change group and that he “had lost count” when it comes to estimating how many protests he has attended.
“Some may say the events in the White House yesterday were the last straw, but I think they reached that point a long time ago,” Gordon said. “Certainly, with the inauguration, things have been going downhill.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
