'No Kings' protest rally largest in Wbg.'s history

WARRENSBURG | A "No Kings' gathering June 14 in downtown Warrensburg of an estimated 900 people protesting deportations, defiance of court orders. mass firings, and other actions by the Trump administration, was likely the largest rally of its kind in town history. The rally coincided with about 2,000 similar rallies across the nation, including massive rallies in states that voted for Trump in 2024, including Idaho, Kansas and Texas. In New York State's Capital District, large crowds participated in No Kings rallies in Albany, Troy, Saratoga, Glens Falls, Ballston Spa, Schenectady, Salem, and elsewhere. The Warrensburg protest was sparked by leaders of the group "Adk.-Saratoga Indivisible" who sought to relocate their planned protest rally from Glens Falls to Warrensburg because it would conflict with LARAC's annual arts festival. However, not only did the Warrensburg rally's turnout surpass expectations, but far more than 1,000 people also gathered in downtown Glens Falls to protest. That rally ended up with two cases of assault, resulting in arrests. A volunteer leader of Adk.-Saratoga Indivisible said she had predicted that only a few dozen people would show up in Warrensburg, and she was astounded by the crowd that showed up. The protesters packed the sidewalks on both sides of Main Street from just north of its intersection with Hudson Street, south to the Grand Union strip mall. A dozen or so people polled at the Warrensburg protest said they had joined it after learning about it on social media or from neighbors. Adk.-Saratoga Indivisible volunteer safety leader Joey Lusk circulated in the chanting crowd, advising the rally participants not to engage with counter-protesters if they showed up, as was predicted. Several of them did show up. One pickup truck equipped with emergency lights and flying a massive flag bearing the slogan "God, Guns, and Trump 2024" made repeated runs up and down Main Street for at least 45 minutes. The driver of a pickup truck bearing Trump stickers revved its engine, spinning its tires in "burnouts" that created noxious smoke that enveloped protesters, as a passenger leaned out of the vehicle and yelled obscenities. A protest participant, Catherine Benincasa, 32, of Manchester, NH, reportedly argued with one President Trump supporter in attendance. Warren County sheriff's officials said the confrontation escalated and turned violent when Benicassa struck the man in the head with a piece of wooden molding, an incident that was recorded in a local business parking lot. She was arrested on several misdemeanor charges. Among the protesters enveloped in smoke from the "burnout" incident were members of the group known as the North Country Light Brigade, which has occasionally been spelling out messages at dusk, with lights, at busy Warren County intersections. At the Warrensburg rally, their placards spelled out the slogans, "DUE PROCESS FOR ALL," and "RESIST" as well as "NO KINGS." One smiling protester, a Lake George resident, said, "We have to stand up against what's been happening." Warrensburg resident Stephen Danna, former Dean of SUNY Plattsburgh's Queensbury campus, stood near the Floyd Bennett Bandstand. He said he was "so excited" about the turnout, which included many local residents, as well as people from across the southern Adirondacks. Danna said he was attending the rally because he was concerned about the deregulation of the fossil-fuel industry which would exacerbate climate change, the loosening of clean air regulations, and reductions of funding for federal Medicaid and SNAP programs that assist people of limited means. "It's basically been an assault on the nation's people to line the pockets of the very, very rich and benefit those who are 'connected," he said of the pending deep budget cuts and tax breaks. Catherine Atherden, one of the leaders of the Light Brigade group, said after the 90-minute Warrensburg rally that the attendance was impressive. "The turnout was energizing and encouraging — it was phenomenal."

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'No Kings' protest rally largest in Wbg.'s history

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