The activist group that calls itself the Badass Feminists of Gainesville held an anti-ICE protest in front of the Oaks Mall on Saturday.
On Sunday, hundreds of people lined the sidewalks near Bo Diddley Plaza in downtown Gainesville to protest the shooting death of a Minneapolis man the day before.
Chants of “ICE OUT, ICE OUT, ICE OUT” could be heard along Newberry Road, a high-traffic area that ensured visibility for the group by drivers and passengers.
One participant who asked to remain anonymous has been attending protests like the one near the mall for the past months and said, “A couple of months ago, you would have people giving us the finger or giving us the thumbs down or just, shaking their heads at us."
"And now we have a lot more people honking, giving us the thumbs up, waving...It’s thing after thing after thing, terrible things, that people are seeing and starting to change their minds. And that’s heartwarming.”
The participants at Saturday's protest ranged from children with their families to seniors, who said they felt it was their duty to speak out.
Jane Littler, 93, said “I’ve been working in civil rights since 1963, and so this is, you know, putting on the old hat. It’s something that needs to be done, so here I am. I feel obligated.”