A growing number of community members have been protesting President Donald Trump and his administration on Fridays from 4 to 5 p.m. at the corner of 195 and S. Eagleville Road for about six weeks.
Most of the protestors are retirees living in or around Mansfield, some with affiliations to the University of Connecticut. Rikke Wassenberg is a retired UConn professor who started the protests via Facebook, where she made a page to gauge interest in starting demonstrations. The protests are not affiliated with any organization, Wassenberg said.
“We’re just a group of people who are… challenged by our present administration in terms of equity and fairness,” Wassenberg said. “We started with five or six [people], and last week we had 56 people.”
Most of the people in attendance are experienced protestors who have been fighting for what they believe in for decades.
“I’m like in my eighties,” Wassenberg said. “My friend, over here?” She pointed to a man sitting on a walker. “He’s 93.”
The protesters came from various backgrounds including former UConn professors and students, retired physicians, transplant recipients, pharmacists and teachers, Wassenberg said.
“It’s an aging background, but we’re still very involved,” she said.
Judy Donnelly was a graduate student at UConn. She recalled being involved in other movements as well.
“We protested Vietnam and we’re still not giving up. And that seems like a picnic now,” she said.
The protestors stood on the edge of the sidewalk across from Price Chopper holding homemade signs with various messages like “Hands off Social Security and Medicare,” “Donald Trump is Tarriffying,” “Honk if you support our Constitution” and “Choose Kindness. We are better than this.”
The protestors said that there is a lot of community support for the demonstrations. There was frequent honking from supporters driving by. Some stuck their heads out of their windows to yell, “Thank you!” The protesters cheered and pumped their signs in response.
Protestor and pharmacist Gregory Cichowski said that one of the main reasons he protests is to support international students whose visas are being threatened by the Trump administration. His concerns are especially heightened after reports that some international students at UConn have had their student visas terminated.
“There’s a lot of [international] students who come and have unique talents… [and the] opportunity to make a contribution to research and development at the University,” Cichowski said. “If we’re going to be taking some of those brilliant students away from us, how is it going to affect the programs in terms of the University being in the top ten [of research institutions] in the U.S.?”
Cichowski wants UConn to speak up for its international students. As he spoke, he pointed to a nearby sign reading “Mansfield Celebrates Our Hometown Champions!” honoring the recent women’s basketball national championship.
“‘Hometown champions’ for who?” he asked. “It should be for these students that are being deported.”
The demonstration had its largest attendance yet of at least 80 participants on Friday, April 11. Some UConn students protested for the first time as well. Lily Stachowicz, Cristina Marotta and Jhanelle Duncan, all UConn students, said they were walking to get groceries at Price Chopper when they saw the protests and wanted to join.
“We love that so many people are coming and honking because that means so much. I hate Trump… he’s got to go. [We want] to speak on that and advocate for people who didn’t get the chance to. This is a great chance to do that,” Duncan said. All three agreed that they would be joining the protests again on the coming Fridays.
Lois Happe is another protestor who says she is angered by the Republican party and their “fear” of Trump.
“Fear is not an excuse,” she said. “If they would ban together, he couldn’t destroy them all.”
Happe said she has decades of experience making her voice heard. She added that protesting is an inherent part of her generation.
“A lot of the demonstrations are [full of] ‘q-tips’: people of our generation who are maybe retired, have discretionary time and have the passion about this because it’s in our DNA,” she said. “I can remember going to Washington [D.C.] about the Vietnam War, and how long ago was that? It’s been a long time.”
Part of the reason the protest is being held in its current location is because it’s accessible to students, who the demonstrators hope to get more involved, one of the protestors said. Protestor and teacher James Salsich wants students to know that it is okay to speak up for what they believe in.
“I’m particularly here so that students can see us and understand that it is okay for you all to be frustrated and angry and any other emotions,” he said. “Students have historically been the leaders of movements. This is your time.”
Many of the protestors said that they are protesting for the younger generations: their kids, grandkids and college students. They enthusiastically invited UConn students to join the movement.
“We’re older,” one protestor said. “We need to hand [the movement] over to good hands.”
Happe and other protestors agreed that they will continue protesting as long as they need to get their message across.
“If we’re going to win, it’s because we’re persistent, not because of anything else. We have to stick it out,” Happe said.
And the protestors sure do stick it out, “rain or shine,” Wassenberg said. The coldest temperature they’ve demonstrated in so far was 22 degrees Fahrenheit, she said.
The protests will continue to happen every Friday at the corner of 195 and S. Eagleville Road from 4 to 5 p.m. The group has added another protest location at the Exit 68 overpass from 7 to 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday mornings, Wassenberg said. They invite anyone to come and join their cause whenever possible.