Opponents of President-elect Donald Trump in the Akron area will join the national protests on Thursday.
A protest against the new president-elect is scheduled to start 11 p.m. Thursday in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood. Protesters will meet in the parking lot behind Chipotle on West Market Street and will walk toward the University of Akron campus. The protest is expected to last until 2 a.m., according to a Facebook event titled “Trump Protest, Akron.”
Organizers said the event is planned as a peaceful demonstration opposing Trump’s rhetoric and the violence and verbal attacks against minorities that have sparked across the country since Trump’s win on Tuesday. Organizers said they also aim to show that “Trump’s America is not the America we want” by pointing out that the defeated Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, won the country’s popular vote but didn’t win the election.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 300 people said on Facebook they planned to attend the protest. Another 835 said they were “interested.”
Similar protests have been held across the country. Protests in California, Texas, Oregon and Pennsylvania gathered thousands. Bigger protests have resulted in injuries and arrests, but smaller ones in Kent, Cleveland and Columbus have sparked no violence.