The chants of protestors filled Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas Sunday as hundreds of people gathered and marched in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis and in defiance of the Trump regime.
Just one day after federal immigration agents were caught on camera brutally beating and murdering Alex Pretti in the streets of Minneapolis, the Las Vegas branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) along with other local groups organized the protest.
A crowd of hundreds answered the call, gathered in front of Las Vegas’s Container Park, then shouted slogans railing against the Trump regime as they all marched through downtown.
‘In solidarity with everyone else against the ICE Gestapo force’
Matthew Brecerra, an organizer with the PSL said the demonstration was calling for the murderers of Renee Good and Alex Pretti to face justice for their crimes.
“I’m trying to stand in solidarity with everyone else against the Gestapo force we have here in America,” US military veteran Dutch Harbour said at the demonstration. “I think it’s disgusting. I served my country for three years, and I did so to preserve democracy, only to come back and find out that we’re losing rights here.”
Another protesting veteran, Scott Jasmin, said that ICE clearly violates the rules of engagement taught to service members.
He said the Trump regime’s conduct makes the US resemble countries that it invaded to “restore democracy” in years past.
“The government always works for the people, we should never be scared of the government in any kind of situation ever,” Jasmin said. “If that is the case and you’re living in a regime that is very similar to the regimes that we try to take over and claim that they are doing wrong.”
Another protestor pointed out that ICE’s actions show how little the Trump regime cares about the American people’s constitutional rights.
“They don’t care about any of our amendments,” the protestor said. “They’re grabbing people off the streets. It’s time to stand up and say enough.”
‘They’re lying to our face about what happened’
Many protestors pointed out the government’s blatant lies about Pretti’s death, despite the fact that the multiple video angles of his murder are widely available online and directly contradict the regime’s accounts.
“Obviously our rights don’t mean anything to the government anymore,” one anonymous protestor said. “They’re lying to our face about what happened.”
Nurse Tomi Love said she knows what it takes to be in the profession that Pretti worked in. She was sickened by how the Trump regime lied about his character after Pretti’s murder.
“As a nurse I know what he was there for, how he was trying to help someone,” Love said. “And then to be so misrepresented as a human being, it’s just not right. Because he’s done so much for so many veterans, so many people.”
‘We are being called to do something’
The second stated reason for the Las Vegas protest was to call for a general strike in the US.
Brecerra said in a statement that a nationwide general strike is the only way to stop the current spread of fascism from Trump and the billionaire class.
“If we as workers in the United States refused to go to work and instead took to the streets to demand a better system, we could shut the country down and win those demands, but the work starts today,” Brecerra said in his statement.
While many of the protestors did not explicitly call for a general strike, they did say that it was time for us all to take action.
“I know right now we’re at a time where there’s so much tension and discomfort that we can feel frozen or unwilling to move,” Lyon, a protestor, said, “but we have to accept that we are moved by the world around us, and we are being called to do something about how our environment is changing.”
The PSL urged for the people to organize, saying that is the first step toward collective action like the general strike they are calling for.
And members of the protest also said they would welcome more people to the movement.
“It’s not too late to jump on the side of humanity and do the right thing,” protestor Jasmin Cañada said as she marched alongside hundreds of others.
Mark Credico is an independent journalist working in Southern Nevada. He covers subjects including government accountability, homelessness, workers' unions and the environment.
