Anti-Trump 'Free America' Walkouts Planned In Hartford, West Hartford

HARTFORD/WEST HARTFORD, CT — Local activists are planning walkouts in Hartford and West Hartford as part of the "Free America Walkout" to protest the policies of the Trump administration.

The national organizers are the same people who organized the massive Women's March on Jan. 20, 2017, the day Donald Trump took office in his first term.

This national protest "is a day of coordinated walkouts and community actions marking one year into Trump’s second regime and escalating resistance to authoritarian policies and violence," wrote organizers.

In the greater Hartford area, two such walkouts are planned:

• Hartford Free America Walkout, 2 p.m., at the Connecticut State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave., Hartford.

• West Hartford Free America Walkout, 2 p.m., West Hartford Town Hall, 50 S. Main St., West Hartford.

"The 'Free America Walkout' follows a year of mass mobilizations that demonstrated collective power and calls for escalation as threats intensify – including raids on communities, military occupation of cities, attacks on immigrants, families torn apart, expanded surveillance, and terror meant to silence dissent," wrote organizers nationally.

An estimated 500 walkouts have been planned in all 50 states and "are growing, with additional international actions being planned in Canada, France, Italy and the Netherlands."

Organizers said people are encouraged to organize walkout teams, contact neighbors and classmates.

“On January 20, we’re calling on people everywhere to turn their backs on fascism and walk out,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March.

“Authoritarianism runs on our obedience, and we’re withdrawing it. We walk out to disrupt business as usual, to build mutual aid and public service, and to prove that ordinary people still have the power to bend what looks immovable. We walk out because a Free America is the only America worth calling great.”

For more information on the national 'Free America Walkout' and to find one near you, click on this link.