Read our editorial on anti-ICE rebellions amid collusion between Democrats and Republicans to repress the masses here.
Workers and activists across the country joined protests on Friday, January 30, in what has been described as a “general strike” mainly against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terror.
The call for a “national shutdown” came one week after a previous Minneapolis citywide demonstration on January 23. Democrat-aligned unions, revisionist organizations, and nonprofits played a leading role in both demonstrations, following from their anti-Trump “No Kings” peace parades that had heavy involvement from Democrat mafia officials.
The January 23 Minneapolis demonstration protested federal agents murdering anti-ICE activist Renee Good and shooting Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis earlier in the month. The day after the Minneapolis citywide protest, federal agents murdered anti-ICE activist and nurse Alex Pretti, stoking broad outrage and calls for a nationwide general strike.
As part of the action, hundreds of cosponsoring groups put forward the slogan of “No work. No school. No shopping. Stop funding ICE.” According to the website where protest information was centralized, over 1,000 organizations were signed on, with 300 actions in all 50 states.
Protesters answered the call to action in many cities, though they more often took the form of peaceful parades corralled by Democrat-aligned groups rather than workers’ strikes.
In Minneapolis, tens of thousands marched in below-freezing temperatures. Musicians, including Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello, held a benefit concert in support of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, with the crowd chanting “ICE out now!”
Large combative protests erupted once again in Los Angeles outside of a federal building. Protesters sprayed “Fuck ICE” on the building, lit a dumpster on fire, threw objects at federal agents, and smashed windows of the building. The protest continued into the night, with law enforcement declaring the protest an unlawful assembly. Mayor Karen Bass announced that five protesters were arrested, as the Democrat and Republican mafias collude in repressing the masses.
High school and college students walked out to join the protests in numerous states, and school districts in Arizona and Colorado preemptively canceled classes due to expected mass absences.
Many small businesses either closed down for the day or donated a portion of their profits to anti-ICE causes in solidarity.
The January 30 protests come as old-State officials begin to backtrack on the most egregious violations of the people’s rights in Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Customs and Border Protection commander Greg Bovino, who baselessly asserted Alex Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” just a few hours after his murder, was recalled from Minnesota and redeployed to California. The Trump administration replaced him with “border tsar” Tom Homan, whom former Democrat President Barack Obama awarded a Presidential Rank Award for his work with ICE in 2015.
That same day, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the Department of Justice would open a federal civil rights investigation into the murder of Pretti, despite the Trump administration previously saying any investigation would go through the Department of Homeland Security.
Photo: January 30 “general strike” demonstration in New York City. Credit: The Worker.
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