A crowd of just under 500 protesters turned out in front of the Cache County Historic Courthouse in downtown Logan to take part in their own "No Kings" protest, joining their voices with similar protests happening across the country over the weekend.
Co-organizer Kaira Dark said the gathering was especially important because it provided a space for those who didn’t have the resources to make it to bigger protests taking place in Salt Lake City or Ogden.
“What people don't understand about Cache Valley and some of these outlying rural communities is it's not easy for us to get to these other rallies," she said, "not just because of the logistics of driving, but, you saw, there were lots of disabled people here that would not have otherwise been able to make it to a protest.”
Dark and her co-organizer Casey Rock said it was only on Tuesday that they decided to organize the demonstration, and the agenda wasn’t finalized until the morning of the protest. But the pair said the event ran smoothly and had a much larger turnout than they were expecting.
The protest was especially successful due to the weekly Cache Valley Gardeners’ Market taking place just behind the courthouse, with market goers wandering over to listen to the speakers and pick up pamphlets.
A protester, who asked to remain anonymous, said what was happening to immigrants across the country was atrocious, and she was disappointed with the attitudes of Utahns, particularly because such a large portion of the state’s population are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“You can't tell me that we are all brothers and sisters of Christ, and that we all believe in Heavenly Father, and then remain silent or passive,” she said.
And so she took action by printing off handouts from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, in both English and Spanish, to pass out and educate demonstrators about their rights.
Protester Eric Jensen said he had been coming to every one of the recent demonstrations in Logan, and was encouraged to see that they seemed to be growing.
“You don't have to be loud," he said. "You don't have to do a whole lot, but just get your voice out. Make sure that they understand you're not happy with this. Come out to these events. It's a great way to show your government that you're not happy with what they're doing. And the more it grows, the more they have to listen to us.”
