On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of protesters walked out of school and off the job to march in downtown Los Angeles and decry President Trump\u2019s actions during his first year back in office. <\/p>\n
The \u201cFree America Walkout\u201d at Los Angeles City Hall was among dozens of rallies taking place across Southern California and the nation. The event was coordinated by the Women\u2019s March and intended to demonstrate opposition to violent ICE raids, the increased presence of military personnel in cities, families harmed by Trump\u2019s immigration policies and escalating attacks on transgender rights.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of protesters marched along Colorado Boulevard<\/a> in Pasadena. Among the slogans on their signs: \u201cDemocracy doesn\u2019t fear protest, dictators do\u201d and \u201cWe choose freedom over facism.\u201d Meanwhile, similar marches took place in Burbank, Long Beach and Santa Monica. Scores of students at Garfield and Roosevelt high schools in East L.A. ditched class<\/a> to join the downtown rally.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t know if he\u2019s [Trump] actually done anything that is positive,\u201d downtown protester Mario Noguera told ABC7 News<\/a>. \u201cEverything\u2019s been about depleting everything: resources, rights. I just don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re getting anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n The walkout took place on the anniversary of Trump\u2019s inauguration, an event he commemorated with a nearly two-hour news conference in which he called his first year in office \u201can amazing period of time\u201d where his administration accomplished more than any other in history.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a book that I\u2019m not going to read to you, but these are the accomplishments of what we\u2019ve produced, page after page after page of individual things,\u201d Trump said, holding up a thick stack of papers. \u201cI could sit here, read it for a week, and we wouldn\u2019t be finished.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the list of accomplishments he touted were his tariffs<\/a>, his immigration crackdown<\/a>, the economy<\/a> and his actions in Gaza<\/a> and Venezuela<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Free America Walkout began at 2 p.m. local time in cities across the U.S. and was designed to differ from mass weekend actions such as the No Kings<\/a> protests by deliberately taking place during the workday.<\/p>\n Organizers said that, whereas protests demonstrate collective anger, walkouts demonstrate collective power.<\/p>\n \u201cA walkout interrupts business as usual,\u201d stated organizers. \u201cIt makes visible how much our labor, participation, and cooperation are taken for granted \u2014 and what happens when we withdraw them together.\u201d<\/p>\n In downtown L.A., protesters condemned the effects of ICE raids locally as well as in Minneapolis, where a federal agent recently shot and killed wife and mother Renee Good<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, thousands of demonstrators<\/a> took to the streets of Los Angeles as part of the \u201cICE Out for Good\u201d weekend of action<\/a>, a national protest movement in response to Good\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n Roxanne Hoge, chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, criticized the stream of local anti-Trump protests on Tuesday.<\/p>\n