A coalition of groups has announced it will be protesting against President Donald Trump's visit to Minneapolis, Minnesota, as he continues his 2020 re-election campaign.
Members from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union will hold demonstrate against Trump's political rally in a protest at the Target Center from 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 10.
In a press conference announcing the protest, Kent Mori, spokesman for the Anti-War Committee, encouraged others to join the coalition in order to "protest Trump and his racist policies."
"The Anti War Committee have been fighting Trump's provocations since before he was even president, when he came down the escalator and made his first racist announcement about our brothers and sisters across the border in Mexico," Mori added.
"He clearly signaled what he was going to do vis-à-vis the border wall and the concentration camps at the border with kids in cages."
Shane Clune, an AFSCME member, said they will be protesting against Trump because he is an "enemy of the unions" and an "enemy of the working class."
"We recognize that 'America First' is a racist lie. We have more in common with the workers in China, or Mexico, or Venezuela, or Iran than we do with a CEO in San Francisco, a trust fund kid in Manhattan or some piece of trash in the White House," he said.
"We see through his lies and we know what he serves. He spreads xenophobia and nationalism to divide the American working class against the world, and spreads racism and misogyny to divide the working class against itself.
"He is a symptom of a disease. The disease is not him, the disease is his ideology and the disease is the class that he serves."
In 2016, when he was running for president, Trump told a crowd in Minneapolis how the democratic state of Minnesota has a problem with "large numbers of Somali refugees coming into your state without your knowledge, your support or approval."
Ahead of his visit, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey described how "under ordinary circumstances" it would be an honor to welcome a sitting president to the city.
"But these aren't ordinary circumstances," Frey said in a statement, via MPR News. "Since taking office President Trump's actions have been reprehensible and his rhetoric has made it clear that he does not value the perspectives or rights of Minneapolis' diverse communities.
"While there is no legal mechanism to prevent the president from visiting, his message of hatred will never be welcome in Minneapolis."
The protest arrives amid controversy surrounding the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis announcing they will be selling "Cops for Trump" t-shirts after being told they would not be allowed to wear their uniforms off-duty while showing support for the president at the rally.
Lt. Bob Kroll, Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis president, claimed the uniform ban decision from the Minneapolis Police Department was kept "completely secret" from the union.
"We believe it infringes upon the federation's rights to have influence in the political process, and let them know where our federation stands and who our federation endorses," Kroll told CBS Minnesota.
"We're going to be there in full force, in T-shirts, letting people know that off-duty officers do have support for our president."
