Alan Savenor came to Belmont Center Saturday morning, kitted out as a Lexington Minuteman, complete with polished brass breastplate and leather boots. There, he joined a crowd gathered at the intersection of Common Street and Concord Avenue to protest the presidency of Donald Trump.
“It was my father’s uniform. He came here from Lithuania in 1935,” Savenor said.
His father was proud of the uniform, and proud to have made it in the United States, Savenor said. Savenor joined the crowd because he is unhappy with the direction the country is moving.
“I wanted to add my voice and my image,” he said.
Throughout Saturday morning, the crowd swelled, with some people estimating that more than 700 people were there at different times. Most carried signs, denouncing forced deportation, the deployment of the National Guard in California, and just about every other well-documented move the Trump administration has made since January.
It was Belmont’s contribution to the national No Kings movement, which had scheduled protests in every state and in most major cities. Lexington, Winchester and Waltham also hosted protests Saturday morning.
Standing on the pavilion across from the Lions Club, Belmont resident Beth Miller quietly sang “This Land is Your Land,” as she watched the cars roll past.
“We are protesting the mass deportations of the Trump administration,” she said.
Her friend, Joan Cavanaugh, said they had come to Belmont rather than Boston because it was important to be with their neighbors and friends and show solidarity.
Cavanaugh held up a plastic bag with a carefully folded American flag. It had adorned her father’s coffin, and he would, she said, support what they were doing in Belmont.
“We want our country back,” said organizer Nora Huvelle, addressing the gathering. “We are here to peacefully protest, which is our right.”
That idea of peaceful, nonpartisan protest was carefully adhered to. When a protester addressed a passerby expressing support for Trump, the protester was asked to stand down and not engage the counter-protesters who might come by.
Residents of neighboring towns came to Belmont to join the protest. Arlington resident Bob Schueler attended a sign-making event at Robbins Library prior to the Belmont protest.
“Any chance you have to show opposition to what is going on, you have to take it,” he said.
Cambridge resident Chris Tolles paused momentarily to introduce his daughter, Emrys, to Long Life, a therapy dog managed by Francesca Vitale.
“I want to create a great country for my kids, and for that, you need democracy. And democracy requires showing up,” he said.
Nicole Gustas brought the flag that draped her father’s coffin. It was held by several volunteers, upside down, an international distress signal.
“He would be very supportive of this,” she said.
Throughout the morning, passersby honked horns in support, some waving signs from the windows of their cars.
“You did this in less than a week,” organizer Huvelle said. “You are making it happen.”
