Mayor Kirk Watson said he supports the right to assemble and protest peacefully, but reiterated that violence or property destruction wouldn’t be tolerated.
AUSTIN, Texas — On Saturday, thousands of people protesting the Trump administration are set to demonstrate across the country, including in Austin.
Austin city leaders and the Austin Police Department (APD) are preparing for the planned “No Kings” protest this weekend, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at the Texas State Capitol and last until 8 p.m.
The nationwide demonstrations are to protest the Trump administration’s policies on the day of a parade in Washington, D.C., celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Army. Saturday also happens to be President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas), State Rep. John Bucy (D-Austin) and attorneys Pooja Sethi and Sara Spector are among those scheduled to speak at Austin’s rally. The event is being sponsored by State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston).
“This is Austin, Texas, and people here are passionate. We have a strong tradition in Austin of peaceful assembly as the capital city of the State of Texas,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said. “Austinites care deeply about human rights and due process, and they have always and will always make their voices heard. We welcome and support that.”
Gov. Greg Abbott said more than 5,000 Texas National Guardsmen are strategically positioned throughout the state to support local law enforcement. That’s on top of 2,000 Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers who will be ready to respond to any violence or crimes at protests on Saturday as well.
Abbott didn’t give specific locations, but Austin officials said they’re aware the National Guard could be deployed.
“Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles in response to President Donald Trump’s enforcement of immigration law,” Abbott said. “Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be arrested and held accountable to the full extent of the law. Don’t mess with Texas — and don’t mess with Texas law enforcement.”
City leaders say they’re prepared
Mayor Watson and Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis spoke at a press conference at City Hall on Thursday morning, discussing how the city is preparing for the protest.
“I trust the people of Austin. I trust the people of Texas. I trust them, and like other Austinites, I count on them to make their voices heard peacefully,” Watson said. “We trust them to do it in the right way because when activity becomes destructive or creates a danger for others, including police officers, you’re doing damage to our city. Austinites know how to peacefully protest.”
Watson and Davis said they support the community’s right to assemble and protest peacefully, but they will not tolerate violence or property destruction.
“APD takes their constitutional right to peacefully assemble seriously, and we will … allow the freedom of the press while also ensuring public safety and the safety of our officers,” Davis said. “Unlawful violent behavior by agitators directed at members of our community and our officers will be addressed and will be held accountable.”
Earlier this week, a night of heated protests against immigration enforcement operations downtown resulted in the arrests of 13 people. Watson warned that violence could be playing into a narrative demonstrators disagree with and said violence and destruction serve no one.
“We must continue to assert our First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble and express our point of view without creating or adding to the negative consequences for real people already living in fear,” Watson said. “Please assemble, make your voices heard, but do so in a way that takes care of our city and all the people who live here.”
Watson said he disagrees with the decision to bring in troops because local police are adequately equipped to handle the situation. He said it was not the city’s decision to bring them in.
“I don’t believe that we should militarize the streets of the capital city of the state of Texas,” Watson said. “I think it sends a very poor message about the state of Texas.”
Other leaders have called the deployment of the National Guard an intimidation tactic, including Austin Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes. Watson said the move to bring in the Guard could spread fear and lead to a more chaotic situation.
“In my opinion, it chills peaceful, constitutionally-protected activity,” he said. “It chills people wanting to engage in that. I think it is intended, or it certainly provokes, fear. And I think it’s intended to or provokes by its nature chaos.”
Caro Archar with the ACLU of Texas said she has concerns about the preemptive action to deploy the National Guard across the state to ensure peace and order.
“You are introducing tension to a situation that doesn’t inherently need to be tense by creating this more antagonistic dynamic between those who are protesting and those who are policing the people who are protesting,” Archar said. “I fear that we’re creating an environment where not only people feel like they can’t freely protest or speak out, but that the people who are at those protests feel unnecessarily policed and patrolled in a way that is unfair to their First Amendment rights and is viewpoint discrimination.”
How will the Austin Police Department respond?
Davis said the police department is prepared for the protests on Saturday. APD plans to deploy additional officers and resources, such as bike patrols, mounted patrols and air units, to monitor the demonstrations.
“These resources, among others, will help us respond effectively to any unfolding events and quickly identify violent people in the crowd,” Davis said.
Davis discussed her philosophy for planning the department’s response to these protests, stating that it should restrict the fewest freedoms possible, limit the use of force by officers as much as possible, target harmful or violent behavior, and deploy predictable and unbiased tactics.
“I don’t want officers to have to make arrests. I don’t want officers to use force,” Davis said. “Within a crowd, agitators are good at hiding behind people that are there to assemble peacefully and what they do is they’ll create this chaos. We’re going to have targeted enforcement into those people and remove them from the protest and allow this protest to continue on.”
This weekend’s event will be held on the Capitol grounds, so it will be under the jurisdiction of the DPS. DPS will have the authority to call in National Guard personnel, not APD. Davis said APD will work closely with DPS and the department wants to ensure that people can safely assemble and convey their messages without violence.
Davis also encouraged anyone who sees someone being violent to reach out to officers on site so they can address problems quickly and others can continue assembling peacefully.
Ahead of the weekend protests, the ACLU of Texas has been reminding protesters of their rights and protections under the First Amendment.
“Protests are, for many people, intentionally disruptive, and just because something is disruptive doesn’t mean it’s not peaceful. If you can have a protest that is marching through a main city street, typically that protest had to have gotten a permit right by the organizers to be able to block a roadway in that capacity,” Archar said. “Just because that roadway being blocked is disruptive doesn’t make the protest not peaceful.”
Davis said Saturday’s event will not be a repeat of what happened during protests against police brutality in Austin in May 2020. Back then, APD used less-lethal “bean bag” rounds to control crowds, and some protesters were seriously hurt. The city has paid out more than $25 million to settle lawsuits with injured protesters.
ADP no longer uses those bean bag rounds. Davis also said the department has been meeting with organizers for Saturday’s event ahead of time to discuss protest rules and how APD can facilitate a peaceful event.