President Donald Trump is returning to New York City on Thursday for the first time since his inauguration. Thousands are expected to gather across the city to give him a piece of their minds.
“Trump’s values are not New York values and frankly they’re not American values,” Joe Dinkin, the national communications director for the Working Families Party, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
WFP is hosting an event in DeWitt Clinton Park in the afternoon hoping to coincide with Trump’s meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid, which is now a museum.
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“Wear white in honor of past immigrant and civil rights movements and bring pots and pans to join in a joyful Cacerolazo!” the Facebook event description reads. “We’ll drown out Trump and show that Trump and his policies are NOT welcome in New York. As May 4th is also the unofficial Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!) wearing white will show we’re on the light side of the force.
The description describes a Cacerolazo as “a form of protest that consists of a group of people making noise by banging pots, pans, and utensils that is popular in Latin American countries.”
The event page indicates that over 2,000 people are planning to attend with more than an additional 8,000 interested. It is co-sponsored by a bevvy of other organizations, including Women’s March, Million Hoodies, and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).
Dinkin told The Daily Beast that the active network of protesters and organizers has been cultivated from mass previous organizing in New York City—from the spontaneous gathering at John F. Kennedy airport in response to Trump’s executive order to the more recent Tax Day march.
“New York has shown a pretty heavy appetite,” he said.
In addition to the WFP protest, the organization Rise and Resist, which sprung up after Trump’s election, has another event planned in Midtown during the afternoon.
“Rise and Resist is mobilizing for President Donald J. Trump’s first visit to New York City,” a press release provided to The Daily Beast from the group read. “Our goal is to show how unpopular and unwelcome he is in his hometown. We condemn Trump and his regime of hatred and discrimination.”
“This is a very significant visit from the president, and we are taking to the street to show our disapproval,” Wrolf Courtney, a facilitator for the group told The Daily Beast. “He is not welcome here, and he is not welcome in New Jersey either.”
They are also planning events in New Jersey for the weekend, where the president is expected to stay at his Bedminster property.
A third major event is planned in the evening on Thursday at Trump Tower, hosted by the New York State Immigrant Action Fund and The New York Immigration Coalition.
According to a report in CNN, Trump is not expected to remain in New York City for long but rather will head to Bedminster after his speech and meeting.
The president has often been skeptical of protesters despite his low approval ratings.
“I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?” the president tweeted after recent Tax Day protests. “Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over!”
