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Protesters gathered at one of Mountain View’s busiest intersections Wednesday evening to condemn recent fatal shootings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, as well as to denounce the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown.
The “Stop the Killings” protest drew about 30 demonstrators to Gateway Park, which sits at the corner of El Camino Real and Castro Street. It began at 6 p.m. and was organized by longtime activist and former Mountain View mayor Lenny Siegel.
People held signs with phrases like “ICE Out” and “Murdered By ICE” with photos of those killed by ICE officers.
“We’re tired of people being killed by our government,” Siegel told the Voice. “It’s a sign of fascism, and the only way to stop it really is for people to come out and resist.”
The protest came in the wake of two recent ICE shootings that have drawn national attention. In Houston, ICE officers shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on July 7. Days later, an ICE agent fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian man, during an immigration enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine.
Protester Joan Brodovsky said she was motivated to participate by what she sees as parallels between current events and authoritarian movements of the past.
“I’ve been reading a history of Nazi Germany, and so many of the things that are happening now were happening there in the ’30s in Germany,” Brodovsky said. “This is our country, and it’s going in a bad direction right now.”
Brodovsky said she hoped the demonstration would show others they were not alone.
“They will notice that there are people demonstrating,” she said. “If they themselves feel against the government, but feel they can’t do anything, they see other people out screaming, and it helps build consensus.”
The Wednesday protest followed another demonstration Sunday at Gateway Park, where about 40 people gathered after Salgado Araujo’s death, according to Siegel.
Thank you to the protestors who showed up and to the Voice for coverage.
Another, larger protest is being organized for Saturday July 25, 7-8 pm at the corner of Castro and El Camino. https://www.mobilize.us/disappearedinamerica/event/989078/ for more info.
We all need to say “Stop the abuse and murders!” before it comes here too.