On a partly cloudy Tuesday afternoon, nearly 500 people gathered at the intersection of University Avenue and Main Street to protest President Donald Trump’s administration.
The protest was part of a national event by “50-50-1,” a grassroots movement organized by independent volunteers. Called the “March 4th Day of Action,” Gainesville was one of 18 cities in Florida to participate in a protest in one day.
Between the four corners of the intersection, some protesters’ signs read, “Orange lies matter” and “Resistance has become duty.” Protestors of all ages attended the event.
Mary Kramer, a 68-year-old retired Gainesville resident, stood across the street from downtown’s University Club bar. It was the same place she stood in 1970, she said, when she protested the Vietnam War as a UF student.
“It is apparent to me that we are losing our government to billionaires and autocrats,” she said. “We are here today to keep democracy, very simply, for you and your kids.”
She pointed out the similarities between a limitation on university protests between her protests in 1970 and present day. Kramer mentioned statements from President Trump, who said Tuesday he’d cut federal funding to universities allowing “illegal protests.”
However, Kramer said she believes people are “smarter” and “more seasoned” now than they were in the ‘70s.
“We aren’t afraid, and he [Trump] wants to bully us,” she said.
Protesters hold signs criticizing the Trump administration as a part of the national “March 4th Day of Action" at a demonstration on the Corner of University Ave and Main Street on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Leann Omalay, a 19-year-old UF mechanical engineering junior, leaned against the brick columns of Cry Baby’s bar, wearing an “All my homies hate billionaires” T-shirt. She was protesting many things, but specifically “the fascist takeover of the United States,” she said.
“I’m young, and I’d like to have a future,” she said. “I’m a queer person who is very much out, and I’d like to stay out.”
Cars driving by honked, and people chanting “Dump Trump” clashed against Omalay’s voice. A few protesters banged pots and wooden spoons in rhythm. With each blink and click of the crosswalk countdown, people waved their signs toward cars while crossing the street.
While Omalay doesn’t believe protests bring a “short-term gain,” she believes “resistances like this bring hope” to the community, she said.
Pamela Smith, an 80-year-old Gainesville resident and “full-time activist,” is a member of the Gainesville Women for Democracy organization. She said the event took a week to put together, and 10 of the organization’s volunteers were present.
As she handed out signs, she said she’d measure the success of this event by its numbers, its positivity and its emphasis on “pro-democracy,” she said.
“To bring people together, where they’re able to do something that they believe in, show the rest of the world that they believe in it, that’s everything to me,” she said.
Joshua Wolski, a 38-year-old Gainesville resident and data analyst, said he was protesting for the protection of women’s rights and the U.S. Department of Education.
He stood beside his two daughters, who are 5 and 7 years old. They held signs reading “Protect my future.”
“I want to be able to protect them and their rights, and ensure their future is intact,” he said.
He hoped to teach his children what protests represent and how to make a difference, he said.
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward stood in front of the Pop-A-Top Sandwich shop. He “couldn’t miss” people exercising their first amendment rights, believing it was important to show his support, he said.
“I’m not here to judge whether the chaos [of the Trump administration] is intentional, but the chaos exists, and that’s not OK,” he said. “This is the greatest nation in the world, and we need to act like it.”
Ward didn’t see any counter-protestors since the beginning of the event, and there were no law enforcement present either. However, the Gainesville Police Department was aware of the event, he said.
A protester holds a sign in support of reproductive rights as a part of the national “March 4th Day of Action" at a demonstration on the Corner of University Ave and Main Street on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
The City of Gainesville didn’t expect any need for a law enforcement presence, Ward said.
“GPD has a long history of supporting protestors. We were very serious about that,” he said.
John Chambers, a 76-year-old retired Gainesville resident, sat on the Alachua County Administration building sign.
His “Purple Heart veteran of Vietnam” hat created a shadow for his wispy, white eyebrows and equally wispy mustache. He wore a T-shirt reading “Convicted felon is not my president.”
As a member of the anti-war movement in the 1970s, Chambers came out to show his support Tuesday for a number of things, because “every day is a pressing issue,” he said.
People who fight against Trump through the courts are “fighting with broken tools,” he said, because both the federal house and senate are Republican-dominated. The “only tool” people have is standing on a street corner, he said.
After fighting in the Vietnam War, Chambers felt he had been lied to and taken advantage of, he said. He described how he watched the patriotism in his fellow veterans become nationalism, and at the time, he said he believed the government would “never do anything to harm him.”
As he watches many veterans support Trump by wide margins, he said he’d tell them they’re being taken down the “primrose path.”
“Many people, not all, are accepting what Trump says,” he said. “You’re a sucker, and they [the Trump administration] are lying to you, straight up.”
Contact Sara-James Ranta at sranta@alligator.org. Follow her on X @sarajamesranta
Sara-James Ranta is a third-year journalism major, minoring in sociology of social justice and policy. Previously, she served as a general assignment reporter for The Alligator's university desk.
