A march on Trump Tower timed with the incoming president’s inauguration has been rescheduled due to extreme cold weather.
The People’s March for Justice begins at noon Jan. 25 at Water Tower Park at the corner of Chicago and Michigan Avenues. The protest was originally scheduled for Monday when President-elect Donald Trump is due to take office.
The march protests the war in Gaza and Trump’s plans for mass deportations, among several other social justice issues.
More than 50 organizations are participating in the math to Trump Tower, including LGBTQ+ groups like the Gay Liberation Network, Dyke Night Chicago and Stop Trans Genocide.
“The two central issues that we are marching on are the slaughter in Gaza and to demand no deportations,” Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, said during a Jan. 16 press conference.
The protest will happen days after Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire deal that will halt the war in Gaza and provide humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians while reuniting hostages with their families.
Activists at the Jan. 16 protest celebrated the agreement, but said their protest will send a message of solidarity with Gaza as it looks to rebuild after the war’s end.
“Every meter of Gaza bears the marks of devastation, and rebuilding will be a long and arduous journey,” said Rama, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement who declined to share her last name. “The United States is complicit in funding and facilitating this genocide and could have ended the bloodshed months ago. … We must ensure that these systems of oppression never have the opportunity to inflict such war again.”
The march is also happening a day before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could start enacting mass deportations—beginning in Chicago, according to reports.
Karla Reyes, of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said during the Jan. 16 press conference that the protest will take a stand against these plans.
Reyes, a second-generation immigrant whose family is from El Salvador, said people from all backgrounds need to come together to fight these policies.
“People like me, who have been living here for a long time and grew up here, and folks who are Asian, Black, gay and straight—whatever it is—need to unite in solidarity with our immigrant family to fight back against deportation, because when they come for one of us, then they come for all of us,” Reyes said.
Other demands from the protesters include an end to the attacks on women and LGBTQ+ people, including on gender-affirming care and abortion rights, according to the organizers’ list of demands. They are also calling for federal legislation to prevent employment and housing discrimination.
The protesters are also calling for an end to the U.S. war machine, police brutality, state repression and attacks on workers rights. They are also calling for taxes on the rich to fund social services, action to address climate change and reparations.
“There are many demands from various organizations—from reproductive rights to LGBTQ+ [issues] to any number of labor organizations—that are marching on Monday,” Thayer said.