BRATTLEBORO-Many rallies and vigils at Pliny Park have protested the actions of the Trump administration so far this year, highlighted by gatherings decrying the U.S.’s ongoing intervention in Venezuela and the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis.
So, when U.S. forces attacked Iran on Feb. 28, it was not surprising that a vigil protesting those attacks took place the next day at Pliny Park, and that another protest took place there a week later.
About 125 people turned out for the March 1 vigil, which was organized by Indivisible Brattleboro, and about the same number were there on March 8, International Women’s Day.
People gathered both days, according to a news release by Indivisible Brattleboro, “to express our sadness and defiance.”
“We do not support a war of aggression against the Iranian people,” the organization wrote. “We support peace, we mourn the unnecessary deaths, destruction, and fear that this bombing has wrought.
As of March 9, according to news reports, seven American soldiers have died, and more than 1,000 Iranians have been killed in bomb strikes that hit civilian targets, including a girls’ school and a car park.
“As Trump escalates, so must we. Americans overwhelmingly are against this nightmare in Iran and its environs,” one organizer, Dan DeWalt, wrote this week.
“True patriots stand for the Constitution and the rule of law,” he continued. “True patriots are willing to put themselves out there in public resisting illegal war and immoral government. True patriots don’t give up in the face of a monolithic opponent.”
An even larger protest scheduled in Brattleboro for Sunday, March 15, will include a downtown march, culminating in a rally at Pliny Park.
“No Kings 3.0” rallies are also scheduled for Saturday, March 28, around Vermont and the nation.
This News item was submitted to The Commons.