Hundreds Flood Rittenhouse to Protest Pence in Philly
Demonstrators welcomed the vice president Philly-style and denounced the Trump administration’s controversial border separations. Here are scenes from the rally.
Photos courtesy of Sara Nović
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Rittenhouse Square to give Mike Pence a true Philadelphia welcome on Tuesday evening.
The vice president arrived around 5 p.m. to attend a nearby fundraiser for the Republican Governors Association. Meanwhile, demonstrators chanted and shouted in the park, making known their disapproval of the Trump administration’s increasingly controversial policy of separating undocumented immigrants from their children at the U.S. border with Mexico.
In a symbolic move, protesters piled dozens of shoes in the park to send a message about the nearly 2,000 immigrant children who were separated from their parents during attempts to cross the U.S. border during a six-week period this spring.
This time tomorrow, Rittenhouse Square will be filled with hundreds of kids playing at the festival. Today it is filled with hundreds of kids' shoes, representing the thousands separated from their parents at the border #keepfamiliestogether pic.twitter.com/9oQImiL9RJ
— Laura Swartz (@pompomflipflop) June 19, 2018
The rally was primarily held in opposition of the uptick in border separations, which have garnered condemnation from both Democrats and Republicans (like senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey here in Pa., as well as all five living First Ladies) and are largely a result of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. City Councilwoman Helen Gym and city controller Rebecca Rhynhart were among those who attended.
Police said one man at the protest was given a summary citation. Authorities told Philly.com that he jumped on the back of a vehicle driven by a Secret Service agent.
Here’s a roundup of photos and videos from the rally.
This is our city and these are our streets! We say NO MORE to racism and inhumanity. #KeepFamiliesTogether #AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/cOpYzKWUEI
— Helen Gym (@HelenGymAtLarge) June 19, 2018
At the Rittenhouse Sq protest now against separation of families at the border. #StopSeparatingChildren pic.twitter.com/sKYpaimvhT
— Rebecca Rhynhart (@RebeccaRhynhart) June 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/missydepino/status/1009195862231322624
https://twitter.com/missydepino/status/1009196214343098373
https://twitter.com/missydepino/status/1009196747548168192
Over a thousand gathered for #PenceProtest and more keep streaming in. We’ll be in Rittenhouse Square from 5-8 tonight at least. Please join us! #PenceinPhilly #PenceInPHL #FamiliesBelongTogether pic.twitter.com/4rM2UUzqtQ
— Chloe Wildner (@chloewildner) June 19, 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkON6vIhG7F/?tagged=phillyprotest
I can’t hear those tapes or see those photos and not picture my own kids screaming. #penceinphilly #PenceProtest #resist #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/6NNsKxDCyt
— Diana Rodriguez Wallach, Hatchet Girls horror book (@dianarwallach) June 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/ToomeyMemes/status/1009230226927255552
Mike Pence is in Philly and Philly is responding. #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/IMXUCyR6uP
— Ashley Lippolis (@ashlippolis) June 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/RomaClubPhila/status/1009246651217793024
Tonight in #Rittenhouse Square I saw thousands march against a crisis I never imagined. #keepfamiliestogether #penceinphilly pic.twitter.com/OAAakaMAkd
— Jim MacMillan (he/him) (@JimMacMillan) June 19, 2018
My view of the protest-turned-march that has stopped at 15th and Sansom back at the @thephillyvoice office. pic.twitter.com/sc6nHQgVPe
— Emily Rolen (@Emily_Rolen) June 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/NovicSara/status/1009415551477796864
Marching now around Rittenhouse #TrumpPenceMustGo #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/YTXU7PqeyE
— Chris Campo-Bowen (@Beethovenian) June 19, 2018
Children’s shoes line parts of Rittenhouse Square in Philly at the protest outside a fundraiser @MikePenceVP is attending. The shoes symbolize children being separated from their parents and caged by the Trump adminisration. #KeepFamiliesTogether #FamiliesBelongTogether pic.twitter.com/xctKFizyHk
— Hilary Beard is Vaxxed, Boosted & Wears a Mask (@HilaryBeard) June 20, 2018
It was really hard to get the scale of this protest in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, but you can sort of hear it here. #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/KqqhzJD8cF
— Rebecca Lopez Kriss (@lopezkriss) June 19, 2018
https://twitter.com/kristenhopf/status/1009264380331032577
