AUSTIN (KXAN) — A protest planned to occur at the Texas Capitol Saturday comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s deployment of the state’s National Guard to Austin and other Texas cities following a Monday night protest in the state’s capital city.
Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for the Governor’s office, said in a statement that “peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation,” but that Texas cities need soldiers to “uphold law and order.”
“Soldiers are on standby in areas where mass demonstrations are planned in case they are needed,” reads part of Mahaleris’s statement. “Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles. Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be swiftly held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
The Monday night protest, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, was held to show solidarity with protesters in Los Angeles.
Saturday’s protest, “No Kings/Kick out the Clowns,” is part of a nationwide action against a military parade in Washington D.C., also on Saturday. The Austin rally is organized by Hands Off Central Texas (HOCTX), a coalition of liberal activist groups such as 50501, Indivisible Austin, Indivisible Rosedale, Third Act Texas and ResistAustin.
Hands Off Central Texas President Sophia Mirto said that the rally will feature speeches by activists and locally elected politicians, as well as performances.
“[The idea is] to point out the extreme ridiculousness of government waste that the regime will be using on Saturday, spending over $30 million of our tax money on a what’s tantamount to a birthday party and a very tacky parade,” she said. “It’s extraordinarily concerning that they are wasting so much tax money that they are seeking to intimidate citizens and residents of America, especially here in Texas, where we love to use our constitutional freedoms.”
Democratic Congressman Greg Casar is one of Saturday’s scheduled speakers. He said that the protests bring attention to concerning deportations of children and lawful migrants.
“These are concerning things that people should be allowed to bring up without the governor trying to crush that message and intimidate people by sending in the National Guard,” he said.
Casar also said the “needless” deployment makes National Guard soldiers into political pawns. He has spoken at some of the coalition’s prior rallies and said that the events have been peaceful and without incident.
“I’ve done multiple rallies … where there’s hundreds or a few thousand people peacefully assembled … with zero incident at all. Unfortunately, right now, Trump and Abbott want to stoke chaos,” he said. “They aren’t just pouring gasoline onto the flames. They’re starting the fire themselves and then pouring gasoline onto the fire because they want there to be division. They want to dominate the news stories by helping stoke up a confrontation or stoke up a problem.”
The organizers’ hope is that the event will be non-violent, but that security will be in place to isolate instigators in necessary. They have previously organized rallies at the Capitol in coordination with the Texas Department of Public Safety, according to Mirto.
“DPS has actually removed instigators and people threatening unlawful action. We work with DPS, we work with APD for all of our events,” she said. “We will not be marching anywhere, and if ordered to disperse, we will be very calmly, safely leading people to their vehicles.”
Those reasons are why Mirto said she thinks the Guard’s deployment in Austin is unnecessary.
“It is incredibly unwarranted and unnecessary that the governor of Texas is threatening to deploy National Guard on civilians utilizing their First Amendment,” Mirto said. “Threatening to deploy law enforcement against non violent, peaceful, permitted displays of American patriotism is incredibly alarming.”
While Mirto stressed the difference between her coalition’s tactics and others, she said that law enforcement “rapidly escalated violence” Monday night. She also called on Texans to pay attention to the actions of law enforcement during protests.
“Deploying chemical weapons on the streets of our city is absolutely unacceptable. It is a violation of our constitutional rights, and it is a violation of morality to deploy chemical weapons on civilian streets,” she said.
During the Monday night march, Texas DPS troopers deployed tear gas against protestors.
Saturday’s rally at the Capitol starts at 5 p.m. and lasts until 8 p.m.
In addition to Casar, State Rep. John Bucy, D-Austin, attorneys Pooja Sethi and Sara Spector, and HOCTX board member Melody Tremallo are also scheduled to speak.