Detroit march against Trump lists myriad grievances

The Detroit News on Mar 8, 2025

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DETROIT – Hundreds of people marched in Detroit Saturday, expressing all manner of grievances against the Trump administration, from immigration to the climate to reproductive rights.

The protesters, bundled against the morning cold, carried American and Ukrainian flags as they walked the 1.7 mile route along Woodward Avenue.

They chanted, held signs and cheered whenever a passing car honked in support.

“All of my outrage can’t fit on this sign,” read one marcher's placard.

After listening to a speech by the organizer, Audrey Bourriaud, the demonstrators walked on the sidewalk of Woodward Avenue from the Detroit Institute of Arts to Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit.

Bourriaud, a French and philosophy teacher at Cranbrook Schools, told the raucous crowd that Trump was a dictator whose actions were destabilizing core American values and institutions by hurting people's rights, freedoms and safety.

“What matters is that we’re here,” she said. “We have a new task – resist.”

The crowd interrupted the speech to chant “resist, resist, resist.”

Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders on a wide range of topics, from tariffs to diversity to the Russia-Ukraine war to the name of the Gulf of Mexico.

The protesters were fans of approximately none of them.

Jim Runestad, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, disagreed with the protesters, saying a recent Harvard/Harris poll showed support for many of Trump’s actions. Such support was a reaffirmation of the country’s decision to reelect Trump in November, he said.

“Instead of working with President Trump to enact these policies, which the American people want, Democrats and their far-left allies are filing ridiculous lawsuits to try and stop them, using liberal judges to issue injunctions to halt these popular policies,” said Runestad.

At the protest, one woman banged on a plastic bucket while others chanted various slogans.

“People first. People Burst. Trump is cursed,” went one chant.

“No King. No DOGE. The people first and foremost,” went another.

The crowd’s concerns with the presidency ran the gamut.

Protester Cathy Anderson of Bloomfield Hills said the Trump administration was dismantling years of progress on diversity issues. The changes are taking an emotional toll on people, she said.

“He’s sending us back to the ‘50s,” she said about Trump. “He wants to make it illegal to be gay.”

Given that the new administration is just two months old, Anderson said she shudders to think what may happen during the next four years.

Protester Marilyn Waters of Detroit said Trump’s actions have ranged from dangerous to silly. She said the firing of so many federal employees will hurt government programs while the president's wish to annex Canada and Greenland were ridiculous.

“He’s out of control, like a child,” she said. “Where are the Republicans? Are they going to stop him? No, they’re cowards.”

She said the administrations actions already are damaging U.S. relations with other countries and will continue to do so with each new insult and action by the president.

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