Thousands of people gathered last Thursday afternoon in Philadelphia to protest plans by Republican members of Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The protest coincided with the first meeting of President Donald Trump and House and Senate Republicans at the annual Republican congressional retreat. The protest began with a march from the Thomas Paine Plaza to the Loews Hotel, the location of the Republican retreat.

CPD affiliates, One Pennsylvania and Make the Road PA, anchored the coalition work that brought together members of VOCAL NY, NYCC, CASA, DACA, MRNY, MRNJ, MRCT, our friends at SEIU Healthcare PA, and many others that showed up in full force, loud, feisty, and proud. The protesters convened to protect the health and well-being of all people— including immigrants, people of color, minimum wage workers, and the LGBTQ community.

Protesters also challenged Trump’s executive actions to build a border wall with Mexico, de-fund sanctuary cities, and illegally curb immigration from Muslim countries. “This is not an agenda that represents the people. We are a nation of immigrants and diverse communities that only make this country stronger. We reject President Trump’s platform of fear and intolerance and are united in defense of our communities,” said Ana Maria Archila, Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy.

“Any attempts to take away our health care will be met with stiff resistance,” Salewa Ogunmefun, Political Director for One Pennsylvania. “We will not stand for an agenda that perpetuates greed and division at the expense of insuring millions of our most vulnerable citizens. Today we made it clear that we will continue to stand together in the face of this injustice. We will not go backwards.”

CPD helped organize the action and lent digital support with 250,000 people tuning in on CPD Action’s live Facebook stream, reaching more than one million timelines over 18 hours. The action was also a top Twitter moment! Check out photos from the day’s event here.