Far-left groups try to grow Chicago ranks at rally against Donald Trump at Union Park

Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune on May 3, 2025

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The Little Leaguers warming up in a Union Park outfield craned their necks between practice swings Saturday morning to listen to the message shouted by a nearby crowd.

What they heard — the protest chants of an anti-Trump movement trying to grow its ranks in Chicago — was aimed not only at the White House, but anyone frustrated by the aggressive start of the president’s second term.

“Donald Trump, you racist clown, you’re not welcome in this town,” the group of around 150 demonstrators repeated at the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda protest.

The coalition’s Saturday rally and march marked yet another Trump-targeting protest in Chicago, where thousands demonstrated alongside unions downtown Thursday for a May Day event similarly focused on the president.

Leaders of the array of groups gathered Saturday painted Trump’s presidency as an opportunity to bring more people into their coalition and galvanize those wary of the president around their far-left vision.

“Now more than ever is the time to put our differences aside,” said Chanel Crittendon, an organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “We have to put our eyes to our common enemy, an enemy who is willfully threatening to do irreparable harm.”

Many in the crowd were veteran protesters aligned with organizations, including the Chicago Teachers Union, dedicated to a wide swath of causes: immigrant rights, an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, stricter rules on police and more.

Sophie Grimes of Chicago said she is not a regular attendee. But Trump’s barrage of executive orders, which Grimes sees as “meant to sow chaos,” pushed her to march, she said.

“I just feel like anything I can do to help add power to any protest against what’s currently happening, I’ll try to be there,” said Grimes, 40.

Still, while the handful of speakers derided Trump, their messages often focused less on the president and more on specific issues they championed. And as their attention turned, they blasted Republicans and Democrats alike.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, noticed he was the only elected official who showed up at the event. The firebrand Democratic Socialist put Gov. JB Pritzker in the crosshairs as he spoke to the crowd, citing Pritzker’s recent criticism of what he called “do-nothing Democrats.”

“I think he’s right. I think what is missing is which side is he on,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “It’s not enough to say you’re better than Trump. Show us you’re better than Trump. Tax the billionaires, tax the rich.”

After several speakers finished, the protesters marched through Union Park and onto Washington Boulevard, where they briefly interrupted traffic at several intersections. Police on bikes and in cars preceded and trailed them, blocking off roadways so no vehicles could get near the moving crowd.

The marchers stopped in front of the headquarters of the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, the city’s rank-and-file police union. There, protest leader Kobi Guillory started a chant of “shame” as officers outside the building looked on.

“The FOP is not a union,” Guillory shouted through a loudspeaker. “What they are is a mafia. What they are is a gang that opposes accountability.”

Farther down the road, Kim Haynes of Dolton stepped out of a seniors event at the plumbers’ union headquarters just as the demonstration passed her. She nodded to the sound of a drum as protesters chanted about immigrant rights, and she pulled out her phone to take a video.

Haynes, 54, said she hoped the protesters included people who had immigrants coming into their communities so they might understand various challenges. She said she is troubled by the old age of the president and described him as “a senior citizen who is in over his head” and who has not thought through his many actions.

She was happy to see people demonstrating in the streets.

“That’s what democracy is all about,” Haynes said. “I may not be directly involved, but I definitely promote their ability to have whatever opinion they have.”

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