COLORADO SPRINGS — On Monday afternoon, around 300 people lined up outside the Colorado Springs City Hall to protest President Donald Trump's policies and recent executive orders.
The protesters in downtown Colorado Springs joined thousands of others across the country also taking part in Presidents’ Day demonstrations against the current administration.
Organizations including the Colorado Springs People’s Coalition (CSPC), La Casa Brown Berets, Freedom Road Socialist Organization Denver (FRSO), Colorado Immigrants’ Rights Coalition Action Fund (CIRC Action Fund), Chicano Liberation Committee, Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission (PPJPC), Southern Colorado Black and Pink, and UCCS Students for Justice in Palestine (UCCS SJP) helped organize the event.
Several protesters said they showed up to speak out against President Trump's policies, including executive orders rolling back DEI initiatives and banning transgender people from joining the military and the administration's mass deportation efforts. Others said they showed up to protest Elon Musk's involvement within the federal government and the information the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is working to access. According to the Associated Press, that includes sensitive taxpayer data.
"There are so many reasons to be here. First of all, look at all these people. There's so much anger and frustration and passion about what's going on with Trump and Musk, and it just spills over into all cultures, all borders," said Bear Wilson, a Colorado Springs resident who was protesting outside City Hall.
The executive order ending government DEI programs said the purpose is to get rid of discriminatory programs, while the executive order banning transgender people from the military aims to prioritize national security.
On Monday afternoon, protesters marched from the City Hall to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office on East Vermijo Avenue. Brandon Rincon, an organizer with the CSPC, called on the sheriff's office to eliminate its recently reinstated policies that let deputies communicate more with federal immigration authorities about undocumented immigrants held inside the El Paso County Jail. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office told News5 it had no comment about the protest.
Colorado Springs City Councilmember Yolanda Avila (Dist. 4) marched with protesters on Monday and said the tenure of the Trump administration is "dangerous" and "scary."
"We always do a resolution for Women's History Month. Half of the council did not want to do the resolution for Women's History Month because they feel that is a DEI initiative," said Councilmember Avila. "It's permeated on every level of government and we have to push back and make sure that our democracy stays intact and that everybody is included in our democracy."
New video shows the moment Pueblo Police were involved in a shoot-out Tuesday evening
New video shows the moment Pueblo Police were involved in a shoot-out Tuesday evening.
