SOUTH BEND — As of 1:15 p.m. June 14, the South Bend No Kings rally has gotten underway with 2,000 or more people in attendance at Jon R. Hunt Memorial Plaza in front of the Morris Performing Arts Center, 211 N. Michigan St.
The event began with the song “One Moment in Time” and a moment of silence for Minnesota House of Representatives Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were shot and killed at their home Saturday morning, June 14, in what Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called a “politically motivated assassination.”
Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot and wounded in “targeted shootings,” Walz also said.
Hoffman and Hortman are both members of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Billed as “a nationwide day of defiance” in protest of the Donald Trump administration on the No Kings website, the protests, organizers say, are meant to take “action to reject authoritarianism — and show the world what democracy really looks like.”
More than 2,000 protests across 50 states are scheduled for the same day as a massive military parade set to take place in Washington, D.C., that event organizers and the administration say is intended to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army in 1775. June 14 also is Flag Day.
The date also coincides with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
No Kings demonstrations also are scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. CT in Michigan City and 2 to 3 p.m. in Niles.
Just before its scheduled start time, about 100 people had gathered in Niles at the corner of Second and Main streets.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend No Kings rally gets underway with 2,000 people
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