For the second week in a row, protesters gathered along East Main Street in Galesburg to rally for democracy.
This time, hundreds of protesters showed up carrying signs — and so did a handful of counter-protesters across the street.
Marlene Stone of Galesburg held a sign reading “Dig, dig, dig, baby, for democracy.”
“I'm very, very serious about democracy so I'm using a little sense of humor here,” Stone told TSPR.
The environment is one of the issues that inspired Stone to be part of the rally on Sunday at Main and Chestnut streets.
“I’m very concerned about the environment and what’s happening when they keep dig, dig, digging for oil. I don’t want that to happen,” Stone said. “I think, if we’re going to have a country for our younger people, for my grandsons and for everyone, I want us to be more into the environment.”
Organizers of the protest said they’re mobilizing to take a stand against Republican leadership that they believe has made a mockery of human rights and is trampling democracy.
They said the rally was about protecting working families, demanding solutions for inflation, and standing in solidarity with Ukraine.
Support for Ukraine is one of the issues that brought Gail Rinkenberger to Galesburg two weeks in a row from her home in Henry County.
“I think that it's really important for us to keep our promises to those people. I'm not for mass immigrations like everybody running in and taking over the U.S., but I think that we need to keep our promises to the people who came here to escape war and who came here for what the Statue of Liberty promises us,” Rinkenberger said.
Karen and Frank Haffner sat in lawn chairs holding handmade signs and American flags.
“We may be old but we can still protest,” said Karen.
Frank, an Air Force veteran, said they didn’t go to the protest last week but wanted to speak their mind.
“Things like what’s going on with Ukraine,” he said. “That we’re giving up on them.”
Other protesters held signs calling for the Trump administration to re-hire federal workers that lost their jobs and to protect social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the U.S. Postal Service.
Across the street, four counter-protesters held Trump signs and American flags. One counter-protestor held pro-deportation and anti-trans signs.
Speaking into a megaphone, one of the counter-protesters reminded protesters that Americans elected a Republican majority.
"We're the Knox County patriots," he said. "Look us up."
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