Hundreds of people gathered across Southern California beaches on Saturday for a “Hold the Line” demonstration, a movement protesting Donald Trump’s presidency and promoting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50, which calls for redrawing of California congressional districts to give Democrats more voting power.
Early Saturday morning, protesters packed the sand from Santa Monica to Laguna Beach, with signs that read “Bring back democracy,” “America is not a dictatorship,” and “Take the power back, say yes to 50.”
Beachgoers stopped to stare, and as the crowd later moved along Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach, car horns blared in support.
If passed, Proposition 50 would gerrymander the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats, an effort pushed by Newsom in response to a similar effort in Texas to create congressional districts that favor Republicans and help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives.
Speakers addressed the crowds, speaking out against the threat to 1st Amendment rights, coming only days after late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was temporarily pulled off the air over the host’s comments on the slaying of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.
Read more: ‘It’s all at stake’: As Prop. 50 fight intensifies, Newsom, partisan influencers rally their bases
Gail Kauffman, a speaker at the event held in Seal Beach, expressed worries about the future of free speech under the Trump administration.
“Just the hate that he spews, the lies that he’s telling us, the restrictions that he’s putting in place, the money he’s making off of being our president, the corruption and the idiots that he has put in positions of leadership appall me, anger me, astonish me,” Kauffman said. “I never thought that I would live to see this.”
Organizations such as Democracy Action Network, Indivisible and 50501 were part of the effort to create a “human chain” to demonstrate solidarity against unfair congressional district gerrymandering.
Nathalie Wilson, an organizer for Indivisible CA 47, said the chain formed bonds between neighbors and fostered conversations around local politics.
“Today we were especially having a moment of unity at 11 [a.m.], when everybody became silent and linked arms and hands for a period to just reflect on the situation we’re in that we find ourselves in in this country. So that was really meaningful, and I really enjoyed the spirit of that,” Wilson said.
“Hold the Line” took place across the state, and organizers say it reflects a wider growing distrust among California Democrats of the Trump administration and worries over government crackdowns against the rights of citizens to protest.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
