As a long line of protesters marched along Broad Street in downtown Richmond just a few blocks from the state capital, Project 50501 organizer Antoni Szachowicz lamented that the crowd wasn’t as large as the No Kings protest held at the Capital in October. That protest saw roughly 20,000 people, he said. Project 50501 is the grassroots movement to have 50 protests in 50 states in one day
“There’s about 3,000 to 5,000 people here today,” he said, adding that the lower turnout could be due to a similar protest held at Monroe Park in the heart of Virginia Commonwealth University less than a mile away.
That event, called No Kings Freedom Fest, was organized by RVA Indivisible, a local group that co-produced the city’s previous No Kings protests. This time the group opted to hold a festival with musical performances and guest speakers such as Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi and U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-4th District), according to The Richmonder…