It’s going to be literally one crazy, anti-Trump day in downtown San Diego on Friday, May 27th. So much is going on that it boggles the mind to try to imagine everything.

First, of course, Donald Trump is arriving at the San Diego Convention Center to speak to his throngs around 2pm. And coming out to see and hear him, of course, will be probably thousands of ticket-holders. There will be long lines of them snaking around the Convention Center – which undoubtedly will be off-limits to protesters. Except those protesters in line with tickets.

Second, there will be thousands of protesters coming out to demonstrate against Trump and all that he stands for.

There’s at least six different networks or groups mobilizing their supporters to show Trump that San Diegans will not stand for him. The groups range from Republicans, Democrats, to anarchists, and social justice veterans, to the Unión del Barrio and border activists. These groups will all have their own tactics, displaying a diversity of opposition to Trump. And then there’s the janitors – hundreds of them will be demonstrating and marching through downtown.

Att 11:30 a.m., a rally with speakers is being organized by the San Diego County Democratic Party with people asked to gather at the plaza at the southeast corner of the Convention Center, across from the Bayfront Hilton. Here’s their facebook page, with 85 saying they are attending.

Also, around 11:30, 500 to 700 janitors being organized by SEIU and Justice for Janitors campaign – who are mobilizing against certain buildings and hotels downtown who won’t sign contracts for their janitors – will rally and maybe begin some civil disobedience in some lobbies of some of those buildings. The janitors will move over to One America Plaza, and then will at some point, march through the streets south to the Convention Center.

Yet, another group, Stop Trump – San Diego, is also organizing their base to be at the Convention Center at 11:30 am. Their webpage shows 91 have signed up to go.

At noon, other organized protests will begin in front of the Convention Center by the Love Trumps Hate Solidarity Network, probably in the grassy area across Harbor Drive from the Center. A press conference is planned for 1 pm. This network’s slogan is “Tear down the walls” and is sponsoring a peaceful, non-confrontational protest. It’s facebook page has 60 members.

This group is also having a sign and banner making party, on Thursday, May 26th, from 5 pm on … at the Grassroots Oasis, 3130 Moore Street, near Old Town.

At 1 pm, the Unión del Barrio is organizing a rally at Chicano Park in Barrio Logan. Their facebook event page has 77 signed up, but their organizational home page has over 1,500 likes.

Unión del Barrio organizers are expecting hundreds, if not thousands, at their rally. It’s anticipated that they will march over to the Convention Center. Their participants will include families, people with strollers, grandparents, undocumented people – and therefore, they are not into making any confrontations, but believe their moving demonstration will be statement enough.

The Smash Trump San Diego network is staging their protests at 1:30 pm in front or near the Center. Their facebook page states that 581 people are going. The rally is being sponsored by the San Diego Antifascist Action, and is made up of activists working against police brutality. They advise people to wear black and attach their cellphones to their body so they can used as cameras.

Dump Trump, another network that is mobilizing for Friday, has 74 going on their facebook page. This group, which has some Republican base, I believe, is also urging some to go inside the Convention Center. They are also trying to organize people down from Los Angeles. Here is their statement:

We have been preparing and we are ready. We are going to show Trump that San Diego rejects his bigotry and his bold-faced lies. We will not be pandered to by a flip-flopping celebrity blowhard. He’s a hateful fool who has lied to the public too many times.

REMEMBER CHICAGO! They shut down Trump handily.

SAN DIEGO! It is our turn to kick Trump to the curb!

This is a bipartisan event. We do not condone violence. We support peaceful protest and demonstrations. We know our rights and will not be silenced

Can you imagine all of this coming down in the center of San Diego. You’ll have pissed-off janitors doing take-overs of lobbies and then taking over streets as they march to the Convention Center from near Broadway.

Meanwhile, you’ll have Democrats and other networks’ protests going off around the Center at 11:30 to 1:30. Then there will be the march with hundreds more from Chicano Park, also converging on the Center.

Trump is supposed to arrive between 2 and 2:30 – so his thousands will be in the mix. Tourists and the curious will mingle with the demonstrators, as some demonstrators mingle in the ticket line moving into the Center. And of course, the national media will be on hand in strong numbers.

So, it’s gonna be a wild and crazy time in downtown San Diego on Friday. Wouldn’t miss it.

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Frank Gormlie

A lawyer and grassroots activist, I was finally convinced by Patty Jones to start the OB Rag, a blog of citizen journalists, after she got tired of listening to my rants about the news. Way back during the Dinosaurs in 1970, I founded the original Ocean Beach People’s Rag - OB’s famous underground newspaper -, and then later during the early Eighties, published The Whole Damn Pie Shop, a progressive alternative to the Reader.

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