RICE LAKE, Wis. (WJMC) — A second “No Kings” protest is being held nationwide Saturday, with local events planned.
The peaceful protests include events in Rice Lake, Spooner and Ladysmith. Mark Sherman created Indivisible Rice Lake, an independent political group, and is a volunteer organizer for the No Kings event in Rice lake.
“The real purpose is to bring out the fact that we’re promoting the Constitution,” Sherman said. “People are welcome to come. We are intending to have fun.”
Some conservative commentators and politicians have characterized the protests as paid actors or tied to Antifa, a loose political ideology that the Trump administration has designated a terrorist organization. Sherman says no one is being paid and it’s local residents who are protesting. And the No Kings events are nonviolent, and not affiliated with Antifa, because there’s no actual Antifa organization.
“The first people that were Antifa were all of our G.I.s who went and fought Hitler. So, Antifa, I don’t even know what that means other than anti-fascist. We had to fight once to beat the Hitler’s group, so it didn’t seem like such a bad thing,” Sherman said.
Rice Lake’s No Kings protest is 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. at Main Street and Allen Street. Other events are being held late morning or early afternoon in Spooner, Ladysmith, Siren, Amery and Chippewa Falls. Find more information at nokings.org.