On President's Day weekend, Philadelphia residents join nationwide anti-Trump protests

Over President’s Day weekend, protesters took to the streets of Philadelphia to rally against President Donald Trump and his month-old administration’s policies and actions.

Marching on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Feb. 19, hundreds of people gathered to condemn the Trump Administration’s policies on climate change. On the unusually warm February day, the protesters congregated in support of the Paris Climate Agreement, an accord focused on combating the negative effects of global warming that Trump is reportedly planning to pull out of. 

Another march in Philadelphia took place on Monday. Roughly 100 people gathered at Thomas Paine Plaza, and after a series of speeches, protesters marched through the city toward Independence Mall.

The gathering at Thomas Paine Plaza, dubbed the “Counter the Executive Orders” rally, featured speakers such as Sen. Art Haywood (D-Pa.) and Penn professor Nicholas Pevzner.

The protests in Philadelphia were relatively small compared to much larger marches that took place throughout the country in other major cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Monday’s protests were the latest in a series of nationwide demonstrations against Trump that have taken place since his inauguration on Jan. 20. Penn students have participated in a number of marches and protests in the last month both on campus and in the city, most of them in reaction to Trump's immigration ban. 

College Republicans were critical of the ban, writing in an editorial for the Daily Pennsylvanian that "while the College Republicans support this administration’s efforts to ensure the safety of its citizens, we cannot support the implementation of these goals." 

Penn students also attended what one of the first protests against Trump, the Women's March on Washington, on the day following Trump's inauguration.