March for Truth organizers are hoping to make one message stick long after the protest on Saturday ends: “Investigate Trump.”
“There does appear to be a lot of smoke, and when there’s smoke, there’s typically fire,” said Jordan Uhl, one of the protest’s organizers. “The best way to determine what has occurred is for a fair and impartial investigation to occur.”
Uhl said he expects about 5,000 people to attend the D.C. event, with a similar number expected in New York. Smaller groups of protesters are expected in cities such as Kansas City and Seattle, as well as Munich and Lima, Peru.
The march is the latest in demonstrations since Trump’s election. The National Park Service, which oversees the Mall and the area in front of the White House, says it has seen an increase of more than 25 percent in requests for permits to protest on the District’s federal land compared with this time last year.
The March for Truth in the District is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. near the Washington Monument. It originally was slated for Lafayette Square in front of the White House, but Uhl said interest has ballooned in the past few weeks, so the location was moved to a bigger space.
Speakers at the rally will include Linda Sarsour, an activist and one of the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington, and Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.). The rally also will include poets and speakers from progressive groups sponsoring it, but the speaking portion of the event will be short, Uhl said.
“We want to have it more of a rally feel with lots of chants,” he said. “We don’t want to bore people with speakers.”
In New York, participants will meet at 9 a.m. at Foley Square and march along Broadway. Actress Rosie O’Donnell and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) are expected to be among the speakers, said Shannon Stagman, one of the organizers of the New York march.
“There is an undeniable tie to the president in New York,” Stagman said. “We kind of own him in a way, and it’s important to make our feelings known.”
