MANSFIELD, Conn. – Since March 2025, protestors have been gathering at the corner of 195 and S. Eagleville Road to protest Donald Trump and his administration every Friday from four to five p.m.
At the most recent protest on Oct. 3, many held signs with sayings like, “Pedophilia is not presidential,” “Grab him by the Epstein files” and “Deport criminal Trump.”
Rikke Wassenberg, the protest organizer and a retired University of Connecticut professor, said that the “overriding issue” for her is free speech.
“Our media is the only media that doesn’t stand up and say stuff,” she said.
Wassenberg also mentioned misinformation in our media as a concern of hers.
“I’m embarrassed that the American public is so misinformed,” Wassenberg said.
Cars driving by continued to honk in support of the protests, reacting to signs that said, “Honk if you support…” Wassenberg said that the community support the protestors get “increases every time.”
Jorge Guerra, a former track coach and teacher at E.O. Smith High School, has been attending the protests since they first started.
“There’s so much wrongdoing. You can’t just sit back and be idle with what’s going on,” Guerra said. “We are speaking out while we can.”
Pat Morgan, who lives part-time in Hawaii and Oregon, was visiting a friend in Connecticut and decided to join the protest.
According to Morgan, this is her second time joining this group of protestors, and she protests Trump and his administration whenever she can.
“We’ve got a crazy autocratic dictator, narcissist, mentally ill, mentally compromised man in charge,” said Morgan.
Morgan expressed her thoughts on the state of the U.S. Supreme Court.
“They’re not defending the constitution,” Morgan said. “They were the ultimate voice. They were the last check of the checks and balances, which no longer exists, because Trump has taken over Congress.”
Similarly to Wassenberg, Morgan wants to educate others on the bias in the media.
“Fox News does nothing but promote [Trump’s] lies, and you’ve got 50% of Americans who only seem to watch Fox News and believe everything he says, and it’s absolutely scary,” Morgan said.
Morgan said that she’s so desperate to “get out of this country” that she is currently looking for a new country to immigrate to.
According to Morgan, most protestors are between 60 and 70-years old.
“This is no longer the country that they grew up in,” Morgan said.
There were 58 protestors in attendance at this protest on Oct. 3.