Left-leaning demonstrators gathered in downtown Bangor on the morning of Labor Day to voice their support for unions and federal workers and speak out against changes by the administration of President Donald Trump related to issues such as health care, education, and immigration.
According to organizers, about 200 people attended the event in West Market Square, which was one of a series of “Workers Over Billionaires” protests happening across the country on Monday. It was coordinated by the group Indivisible.
The rally was the latest in a series of protests that have happened across Maine since the start of the Trump administration, some of which have attracted more than 1,000 people.
On Monday, rallygoers specifically criticized changes under Trump’s megabill that Republicans recently passed in Congress. They held up signs featuring messages such as “RESIST,” “No Kings” and “The power of the people is stronger than the people in power.”
Several people spoke during the rally, including former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Nirav Shah, who is considering joining the Democratic primary for Maine governor. Other speakers included a local public school teacher, a labor activist and two Democrats in the state Legislature, Mike Tipping and Laura Supica.
“If you feel that you are swirling in misinformation and can’t tell truth from fiction, that is an intentional effort, not an accidental byproduct,” Shah said in his speech. “This is a deliberate misinformation campaign by the secretary of health and human services to keep us from knowing what’s going on.”
People in passing vehicles offered a mix of support and opposition to the rally. At one point, a lone counterprotester tried to engage a participant in conversation but left shortly thereafter.
Another big demonstration was planned later on Monday in Portland, where two other Maine Democrats seeking higher office — gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson and oyster farmer Graham Platner, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins — will rally with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Collins, who is currently up for reelection in November and has bucked with the Trump administration on some issues, was also protested during a ribbon-cutting event in Searsport last week.
Tipping, a state senator from Orono, expressed alarm on Monday about Trump’s recent decision to send the National Guard into D.C. in the name of fighting crime.
“I’m here to say that there’s hope, even as the armed soldiers in the streets and people being disappeared by mass paramilitaries. We don’t yet live in a fascist nation,” Tipping said.
“It’s very important for each one of us to participate in rallies to show our opposition to what is happening, our support for the good in America,” said attendee Deborah Lee of Bangor.
