Demonstrators raise their signs during a May Day Strong Across Montco event on May 1, 2025 at the corner of Butler Avenue and Main Street in Ambler. (Rachel Ravina – MediaNews Group)
Grassroots activists planning a series of demonstrations slated to take place Thursday across Montgomery County hope for hundreds to come out and raise their voices.
Locally, the national protest will take place at1400 Old York Road.
In total, eight are expected in Montgomery County, with activists encouraging participants to gather between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday in Ambler, Abington, Bridgeport, Collegeville, Eagleville, East Norriton, Lansdale, and Pottstown.
The demonstrations will take place at the following places:
“We decided this would be a great moment to show how much concern, anger [and] frustration there is across the county by having eight simultaneous protests,” said Abington Township residents Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, co-chairwoman of Indivisible Greater Jenkintown, and coordinator of the Abington demonstration.
The gatherings were organized by Community for Change Montgomery County in conjunction with several organizations, including Abington for Peace, the Lansdale Equality Coalition, and representation from Indivisible branches of Montgomery County and greater Jenkintown.
The protests planned in the Philadelphia suburbs will join a series of others scheduled to take place across the nation that honor the memory of the late Congressman John Lewis. Deemed the “Good Trouble Lives On” protests, they pay tribute to Lewis’ legacy and his signature “making good trouble” mantra.
“John Lewis showed us what courage looks like in the face of injustice. Now it’s our turn. We’re gathering in his memory to say: We will not be silent as our neighbors are detained without due process, our loved ones lose access to health care and crucial services, and our democratic norms are eroded,” Melissa Hall, an organizer with Community for Change Montgomery County, said in a statement.
While a “No Kings” rally in front of the Montgomery County Courthouse last month brought people out in droves, a series of smaller, “neighborhood protests” have also taken place in recent weeks where area residents have gathered to protest against policies within President Donald Trump’s administration.
More than 100 people were stationed along a stretch of Butler Avenue in Ambler as they held up signs and American flags during a demonstration last month. Around 150 people also turned up to a protest in Abington, Wechterman said.
“I can’t think of an issue that the administration has addressed negatively that doesn’t impact someone that I knew or know, or someplace within my concentric circles of community,” Wechterman told MediaNews Group.
Issues for Wechterman were wide ranging as she directed her ire toward the administration’s handling of a number of topics, including “defunding of much of the funeral government and the safety net that that provides for people,” cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the “rollback of rights and access to health care for trans individuals, particularly trans youth,” the “encroachment on civil and human rights broadly,” as well as due process violations concerning the enforcement actions of mass deportations associated with Trump’s federal immigration crackdown.
“In Montogmery County, at least those of us who’ve been active, we’re deeply concerned about the actions of ICE in our county to essentially what we see is kidnap many neighbors and friends without judicial warrants, without due process and take them away,” Wechterman said.
Grassroots organizers will also be “collecting donations for mutual aid at each location that will benefit local organizations,” according to an event flyer.
As organizers ready to welcome participation from people across Montgomery County, they hope these demonstrations will provide a sense of community for those in need of it.
“There’s connections that happen at these protests. It’s not just the protests, it’s building community connections, and connecting people to action,” said Community for Change Montgomery County Lead Organizer Stephanie Vincent.
Visit cfcmontcopa.com/events for more information.
