‘No Kings Day’ event set for Saturday in Albany

ALBANY – The third of Albany’s No Kings Day protests will kick off Saturday morning at Tift Park with a menu of barbecue, activism and speakers before participants take their signs to the streets.

The event, sponsored by Albany Loves Democracy, starts at 11 a.m. and is expected to be one of thousands of protests across the country.

“We’re hoping this will be our largest yet, and nationally organizers are looking to get 3,000 events around the country,” group member Tim Wesselman said. “I can’t think of any other time in my adult life there would have been multiple days of protests at a dozen Georgia cities in one year.

“The purpose is to demand that our Congress check the power of our executive branch that is ignoring things when it can’t get a positive court ruling. We favor the rule of law, not the law of one ruler. That’s what No Kings means.”

Some of the top concerns, based on the signs that members have been preparing ahead of the event, are the current war in the Middle East, what many see as the excesses of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, event organizer Rebecca Malphrus said.

“We were all taught (that) if our founding fathers could do one thing, there would never be another King George,” Wesselman said. “What has happened in the last year has proven our concerns correct; we’ve had one person starting wars. We’ve had a president bomb more countries in one year than any other. 

“We’re in a war now where it’s clear there was no exit strategy. We have our allies for the first time refusing to assist us because this war is unjust. It’s unilateral.”

Albany Loves Democracy has mounted more than a dozen protests since its formation in January, including a number of “honk-and-wave” events held on the roadside, Malphrus said.

“This one’s a little bit different where we’re doing a picnic,” she said. “It’s a community event in Tift Park. After that, we’ll do a honk and wave.”

Speakers will address the national issues as well as a local one: requesting that the city replace the former skate park on East Oglethorpe Boulevard that was removed for the Flint River bridge replacement project. Local political candidates also will address the audience. 

There will be food for up to 200, and Albany Loves Democracy hopes to bring out more than 100 people for its event. Individuals also will have the chance to make their own signs.

“That’s one of the things people enjoy,” Wesselman said. “If you look at a photo at any event, no two signs are exactly alike. We wanted people to know they weren’t alone as they felt the horribly wrong things going on in this country.”

Security will be provided for No Kings Day by off-duty law enforcement officers hired for the event.

“The event will have security, and we definitely require people to commit to non-violence,” Malphrus said. “It is a public event, and we would like to feed anybody who stops by.”