Thousands protest in Clinton Square against Trump’s Syracuse visit

More than 2,000 protesters gathered in Clinton Square in response to President Donald Trump’s campaign rally for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. 

The protest, dubbed “Not in Our House!” was organized by Indivisible Onondaga County and the CNY Solidarity Coalition and planned to showcase local resistance to Trump’s policies.

“Donald, your values are not our values,” event organizer Judy Jerome said before the protest on Friday. “We stand for democratic norms in this country. We do not stand for creeping authoritarianism and fascism, which we see happening.”

The protest was scheduled an hour and a half before Trump and Blakeman were set to appear at The Oncenter several blocks away. 

Participants lined surrounding sidewalks an hour before the event was set to start, holding handmade signs with the phrases “No Kings,” “Abolish ICE” and “Veterans against Trump,” while others waved American and Canadian flags at drivers passing by. 

“We stand and demand for equal housing. We stand and demand for the right for people to have SNAP benefits. We stand and demand for ICE to be dismantled,” Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens, the first in the speaker lineup, said. “I don’t know what other people call it, but when people are taken off the streets from America, with no due process, that’s kidnapping.”

Owens also encouraged the crowd to participate in the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 3.

“If you came from as far as Rochester, to Buffalo, to Utica, everywhere, Ithaca,” Owens said. “Stand together in this time and do not forget to vote, vote, vote.”

North Syracuse resident Pat Kehoe, 64, held up her own sign with the words “We the people need no kings!” 

Kehoe’s hope is that the protest will energize voters to show up for local elections and reduce voter apathy. In the 2024 general election, an estimated 41.3% of the eligible voters in Syracuse cast ballots, compared with an average of 61.5% across more than 1,200 U.S. cities, according to City Health Dashboard.

“[Last year] I arrived at 7 p.m. after work, and I was number 38,” Kehoe said. “38 for the whole day. That’s what’s killing us, people just don’t vote.”

Several community organizers and activists from the New York Civil Liberties Union, CNY Pride, Onondaga Nation and other Central New York organizations discussed the Trump administration’s effects on immigration, healthcare, the war in Iran and more throughout the protest. 

Local officials, including Onondaga County Legislator Maurice Brown, a candidate for the state Assembly, attended the event, along with state Sen. Rachel May. Brown ended the event by urging attendees to “stand up and fight back” for democracy.

“The way we fight back, we use our wallets, we use our presence, we use our vote,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of fighting to do, so let’s get to work.” 

Syracuse resident Larry Roundtree, 18, saw Trump’s visit to his hometown as “a good opportunity for the community to come together for a common enemy.”  He plans to participate in the upcoming election for the first time, and said the timing of his vote this year is critical due to “political chaos.”

“Typically 18-year-olds have a more stable political environment and atmosphere to vote in, so I’m glad I have the fortune to be old enough and wise enough to vote,” Roundtree said. 

After the scheduled event ended, large groups of protesters marched from Clinton Square along Montgomery Street to The Oncenter, as Syracuse police stood along barricades blocking both Montgomery and South State streets.

The march to The Oncenter was not associated with the Clinton Square protest and was organized separately by the Syracuse Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Syracuse Democratic Socialists of America and the Syracuse Peace Council, according to an Instagram post from march organizers.

While the march remained nonviolent, the crowd chanted expletives against Trump and police. One man exposed himself to police along the barricade with the words “F— Trump” written on his buttocks, but the crowd eventually dispersed as organizers ended the protest shortly after Trump began his remarks inside.