JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – At least three rallies were held in Northeast Florida on Monday amid dozens of Presidents Day protests planned across the country to denounce some of President Donald Trump’s policies and executive orders.
Two rallies were held at 12 p.m. in Orange Park and St. Augustine, and another rally was held at 1 p.m. in downtown Jacksonville.
These rallies are a part of the “National Day of Action” dubbed “No Kings on Presidents Day” by the 50501 Movement, the latest protests came less than two weeks after a similar nationwide event on Feb. 5 drew participants in dozens of cities.
Both protests denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, an outside-government organization designed to slash federal spending.
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Organizers of Monday’s protests, which were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle, said they were targeting “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”
“I’m most concerned about the Save Act, the Save Act that has been passed in the House that is getting ready to go to the Senate. They are trying to disenfranchise women from voting, trans people from voting, anybody who cannot have the same kind of identification that they had on their birth certificate,” a protester in Jacksonville said.
Northeast Florida organizers called for the protests citing “Protest Project 2025, end mass deportations, and protect human rights,” among their call-to-action items.
“Well for myself as a deaf, trans, lesbian woman, everything that’s going on is an attack on every single bit of my identity. So, for someone like me, there’s no reason or not no reason, but there’s no way that I can’t be protesting this stuff, because without it, I can’t be living at all,” Queer Coalition Director Echo Nova said.
Hundreds of protests are scheduled outside congressional offices and Tesla dealerships, with organizers hoping to send a pointed message to members of Congress who are on recess this week.
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News4JAX reached out to the Republican Party of Florida State Committeeman for Duval County, Dean Black, who defended Trump’s policies, specifically on immigration, which has been at the center of these protests.
“We support law and order. There is nothing wrong with making sure that illegal alien criminals are deported from this country they’re causing real harm and the president is focused on it and he should be,” Black said.