Hundreds of protesters turned out for the “Free America Walkout” at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford on a frigid Tuesday afternoon in hopes of having their voices heard in opposition to the Trump Administration.

Hartford was expected to be the biggest of the protests around state but there were other cities holding rallies on Tuesday including in Newtown, Canton, West Hartford, Granby, Windsor, Bridgeport, Brookfield, New Haven, Guilford and New Milford. There were more than 500 “Free America Walkout” protests expected nationwide.

About 400 protesters braved the cold with temperatures in the 20s and wind chills in the single digits in Hartford. Many held signs that were critical of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and expressed anger over the death of Renee Good in Minnesota. One sign said, “So much wrong. So little cardboard.”

There were also chants of “Impeach Trump” as well as signs concerning President Donald Trump’s stance on Greenland as well as the Epstein files.

Speakers in Hartford included Nadia Sims, Poet Laureate of Manchester; Ruth Fortune, candidate for U.S. Congress in Connecticut’s 1st District; Lisa Del Sesto, president of National Organization for Women, CT chapter; Audra King, CT Civil Liberties Defense Committee; Erin Doolittle, cannabis and harm reduction activist and Raine Palladio, president of We Are Women Rising.

“I understand that someone thought it was too cold, but we have between 350 and 400. I’m pretty happy with that on a sub-freezing day,” said Alison Greenlaw, the Hartford County lead for CT 50501, while protesters were chanting the name Renee Good in the background.

“People arrive with a lot of joy even though they are angry, and people really find joy in coming together,” she added.

Hartford resident Eric Stamm was waving an oversized rainbow-colored flag that said “PEACE” in big letters.

“I grew up with the peace sign. We need to build peace as an active process and not simply the absence of war,” Stamm said. “I’m troubled by the militarization both here at home and American militarization abroad. Across the board we are becoming more of an authoritarian, militarized society. There are armed troops on the streets in America. They are our troops and the enemy has been declared as the people.”

Stamm added that he’s concerned that there will not be elections in November and that “everybody should be concerned about it.”

“We have to be here to protest before we can’t do it,” he said.

Stamm said that people are shocked about what happened in Minnesota to Good.

“This is the is the reality of what the migrants at the border have been dealing with for decades. This level of brutality by border patrol, and we are only beginning to see what it looks like when it comes to our neighborhood,” Stamm said.

Del Sesto of the National Organization for Women said protesting is “monumentally important.” She said she has been protesting the Trump Administration since March of last year.

“Now the international community knows we have a madman in office, and nobody is stopping him, so we are here in Connecticut. This is our home, and we are letting it be known that we will not stand for that here. We do not stand for it in D.C. We expect our elected officials to do something about it. This madness has to stop,” Del Sesto said.

“A woman (Good), a U.S. citizen, was shot in the middle of the street, and we have tens of thousands of people being detained in detention centers or sent to countries that they didn’t even come from,” Del Sesto said. “That is highly disturbing. The fact that they went to Venezuela and killed 80 people and took their leader, completely defying the idea of a sovereign nation whether we agree with them or not. … And now he wants to take Greenland. That’s their country. That’s for them and Denmark. That is not for us to decide.”

She added that Good’s death has galvanized people.

“There were a lot of people that seemed to say ‘It’s not me, I’m a citizen. It’s not us, it’s not going to happen to us,'” Del Sesto said. “I don’t see how anyone could justify a person being a legal observer and being shot and killed with no warning. Our police don’t do that. This is not a way law enforcement is supposed to act. That is not protocol. The fact that our federal government said they are not going to investigate this and there was going to be some consequences. No. They called her a domestic terrorist. It solidifies the idea that they don’t care about Americans.”

Anne Aurand of New Britain said she was protesting because of the outrages of the past year. She was holding a sign that said, “The Department of Justice is Not a Personal Revenge Instrument.”

“The Department of Justice serves Lady Justice and not the president,” Aurand said.

Aurand said she was surprised at such a large demonstration on a weekday afternoon in the middle of January. She said she’s been to several protests over the last year. In the past, Aurand said she would occasionally protest, but “When your country is on a treasonous, corrupt and incompetent path, you have to say something about it,” she said.

Ken Uppling of Tolland carried a sign calling for the full release of the Epstein files.

“Enough of this crap with Trump,” Uppling said. “When it going to end? I’ve never seen a world, not only the country, but the world in a worse situation. … Enough is enough. Let’s get everyone back together and figure this out.”

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