Baton Rouge, LA – On No Kings Day, October 18, over 1500 people took to the streets to stand against the Trump administration in Baton Rouge. In one of the largest demonstrations Baton Rouge has seen, the huge mass of people marched along Perkins Road, chanting and carrying signs and banners denouncing Trump.

Protesters called for an end to attacks on immigrants, universities, LGBTQ people and free speech. They also condemned Governor Jeff Landry’s request to deploy the National Guard to Baton Rouge, Shreveport and New Orleans.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Louisiana State University (LSU) marched in a student contingent alongside Indivisible Baton Rouge and a coalition of many organizations. The students held a banner at the front of the crowd that read “Fight Trump’s agenda. No ICE on campus! Defend free speech! Speak out for Palestine!”

Ziad Eissa of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization marched to the front of the crowd and led chants after an Indivisible organizer handed off a megaphone. The crowd chanted, “Don’t give in to racist fears, immigrants are welcome here!” and “They say get back, we say fight back!” Speakers emphasized the need for mass mobilization against Landry and for immigrant rights, especially given the threat of the National Guard deployment.

“From ICE raids and ripping apart families, to sending armed troops to predominantly Black cities – we refuse to stay silent and not stand up to the Trump administration,” said Enola Guyer of LSU SDS. Over the summer, two international students at LSU were detained by ICE and released shortly after.

Tia Fields of Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants said, “We come from a long line of people who believed freedom was worth shouting for: the abolitionists, the suffragists and the civil rights activists who marched through teargas. History now calls on us too.”

Ryan Spalt of Freedom Road Socialist Organization was the last speaker and concluded by saying, “History shows us time and time again, it is the people that drive history forward, not Trump, not Landry, and not any of the reactionaries that come after them.”

#BatonRougeLA #LA #ImmigrantRights #SDS #FRSO #PeoplesStruggles #LORI