Alameda residents and others took to the beach—and the skies—on Saturday, January 17, to protest the chaos being created by President Donald Trump and his administration.
More than 800 sign-waving citizens formed an almost two-mile long human chain along Alameda’s San Francisco Bay shoreline to be part of a drone-filmed video that would carry their message on the internet. Their messages told Trump to keep his “Hands Off” of individual freedoms, political causes, and people who have been subjected to arrest and violence during the administration’s immigration crackdown, currently under tactical restrictions by court order in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Organizers said the line of protesters on Saturday extended from Crown Beach down to Park Street.
The signs represented a variety of institutions and personal rights the administration has been accused of abusing, including immigration, the rule of law, and his continued campaign to take control of Greenland, which he has threatened to take by military force if he cannot acquire it by peaceful means.
The crowd lifted their signs and shouted loudly as an overhead drone piloted by Alameda resident Brett Ellis buzzed by, capturing the event for a video now being shown on YouTube.
Organizers had hoped to position protestors on the beach, but high tides forced those with signs to stand on banks above the sand until the tide retreated. Individual video interviews augmented the aerial display to push home the message.
Shalom Bruhn, one of the event organizers, said she hoped viewers would pass on the video as far east as Europe and as far south as Africa to spread the word of the group’s resistance.
“We want this worldwide so people in other nations will understand that we are fighting back,” she said. “We’re not being passive. We are not just waiting around and holding the line.”
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Bruhn said she wanted to hand her 20-year-old daughter “a country that she can be proud of, that is respectful of other countries.”
Suzy Foxman came to the protest because she fears for the future of the country, which is being plagued by corruption, ugliness, and chaos. “Americans are apathetic,” she said. They are not used to this type of need. That’s why I am out here, because I feel propelled to this kind of action.”
Anti-Trump protests have occurred since he returned to office in January 2025 with opponents staging “No Kings” events across the country, including demonstrations in downtown Alameda.
Protests by Trump opponents have ramped up nationwide after ICE agents shot and killed a Minneapolis woman, Renee Nicole Good, 37, on January 7 during an immigration sweep.
Federal officials claim that Good was trying to run over an ICE officer with her car, but the city’s mayor said the agent acted recklessly. ICE agents have also been videoed pulling a disabled woman out of her car.
A federal judge has since issued a ruling forbidding officers from arresting or using pepper spray on peaceful protestors provided that they do not block agents or commit a crime.
David Boitano is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/David-Boitano.
