Events over the weekend gave Erath County residents along with the surrounding area the ability to exercise their First Amendment right to peacefully protest.
The ‘No Kings’ protest was organized by the Erath County Democratic Party and was held Saturday, June 14 at the downtown Stephenville square surrounding the county courthouse. Approximately 175 people attended Erath’s event, though millions throughout the country also joined in similar protests.
The events were aimed to protest the policies and actions of President Donald Trump’s administration especially where immigration is concerned.
According to Stephenville Police Chief Dan Harris, the event had no police activity other than a single heat-related injury.
Jake Freels, an Erath County resident and Christian, was also at the protest not as a political move, but to proclaim ‘Jesus is the King’ and to offer peace.
“We just wanted to bring peace to the situation in case there were outsiders,” he said. “We simply wanted to be feet on the ground to bring peace.”
Freels said all individuals have the right to say what they want, per the Constitution.
“It was a proud moment for me to watch Erath County and the surrounding area to come together without any problems,” he said.
About 15 or so people joined Freels who displayed a ‘Jesus is King’ and a number of residents, including Democratic Chair Moumin Quazi, came over to say hi or see what the group was about.
As far as the ‘No Kings’ protest was concerned, Quazi said that the Erath County Democratic Party was gratified that more than 175 showed up to demonstrate their rights to peaceably protest and exercise free speech.
“We hosted local county citizens along with friends from several surrounding counties (Eastland, Bosque, Hood, Tarrant, Denton, and others) for a peaceful protest and a community picnic celebrating Flag Day. We joined a nationwide effort to assert that America is not ruled by a despotic authoritarian king, but rather is a nation governed by the people, for the people, and of the people. We are that people and we love our country. We are confident that this message against overreach is non-partisan. After all, the Declaration of Independence was a statement affirming that the united colonies (States) were rejecting despotic action by a king,” Quasi said. “Today, Stephenville’s was one of thousands of gatherings protesting a president who is trying to rule by executive order. We are proud to have stood today with the 12.1 million others who united in this common cause.”
The protest was followed by a community picnic hosted by Erath County Democratic Party to celebrate Flag Day with about 200 people in attendance.