Spurred by demonstrations across the country, dozens of people from the Peterborough area gathered at the Town House Sunday at noon to protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
The crowd of about 200 people held up signs criticizing Trump and his executive order, which barred visitors and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran and Iraq, for three months. They also chanted slogans like “Hey, hey, ho-ho, Donald Trump has got to go” and “No ban, no wall. America is for us all.”
The Peterborough protest came after thousands spontaneously marched on John F. Kennedy airport in New York after receiving early reports of detained immigrants. The Peterborough protest started similarly – a single Facebook post and word of mouth created one of the largest town demonstrations in decades, according to residents.
“What, do we have a population of 6,400 maybe? To have this many people concerned, I see it as a good sign,” said Tyler Ward, a Peterborough Select Board member.
Some were attending as a follow up to women’s marches in Boston and Washington, D.C. Others, like Ward, who was there as a resident and not representing the select board, were attending their first protest.
“I’ve been an armchair protester all my life,” Ward said. “After this week, I’m kind of at a point of: Where is this going?”
Meade Cadot, of Hancock, spoke with concern about his son-in-law, who is a practicing Muslim from Morocco and lives in New York. Trump often mentioned his desire to ban Muslims during his campaign, though he told White House reporters that Friday’s executive order was “not a Muslim ban.” Though Cadot knew the ban did not affect naturalized U.S. citizens and that Morocco was not among the seven countries listed, he was nonetheless worried.
“Today it’s them, tomorrow it’s you,” Cadot said.
Jodi Seaver, a 40-year resident of Dublin, attended the women’s march in Boston.
“I’ve just sort of woken up at 67 years old – it took a man like Donald Trump to wake me up,” she said. “I’ve been pretty complacent my whole life.”
She talked about her niece, nephew and Pakistani brother-in-law, whose close-knit family travels back-and-forth from the U.S. regularly.
“I could just see his mother being stuck in the airport,” Seaver said. “It’s just such an abomination.”
Andrea Cadwell, marketing coordinator from the Manchester-based Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Services, spoke to the crowd, asking residents to participate in the group’s farm and community-supported agriculture program. The people who work on the Dunbarton farm are immigrants, according to Cadwell, and a couple are from Somalia, which is one of the seven countries.
“These people are clearly now very frightened about what’s going to happen to them,” said Cadwell after her speech. “Many don’t know if their family members will be able to join them.”
Other protesters shared personal stories about their family’s immigration history.
Margaret Walsh, of Peterborough, recounted her family’s Irish lineage and said many of her friends and family are first- and second-generation immigrants. She, too, was impressed by the size of the crowd.
“It’s gratifying to know it’s not only cities that care about immigration and human rights,” Walsh said.
Christine Pressman, of Jaffrey, brought her children, who held up signs detailing their family’s World War II history. Her husband’s grandparents escaped from Austria during that war, she said.
“I think the idea is that most of the people, did not come as legal citizens, they came as immigrants and refugees,” Pressman said. “How do we have the United States without them? That’s who we are.”
Many who drove by honked their horns in support the protesters. Only one pickup truck driver seemed to shout in support of Trump.