10k rally for immigrants in Civic Center

Upwards of 10,000 people rallied Saturday afternoon in San Francisco to protest President Donald Trump’s plan to build a border wall with Mexico and his executive order that’s been interpreted as a Muslim ban.

The NoBanNoWall protest started at 3 p.m. and ended at about 6 p.m. at Civic Center Plaza at 355 McAllister St.

Organizer Camilia Razavi, whose parents are Iranian immigrants, said the plaza was packed and peaceful:

“It was just beautiful.”

The rally was meant to be a show of solidarity with immigrant groups that have been affected by the executive order and could be by the wall.

Trump said in a statement last week on Facebook that the executive order is meant to protect U.S. citizens by keeping terrorists out of the country.

But a legal battle is developing over the order.

A Seattle federal judge on Friday night temporarily blocked it and today officials with the U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal of that injunction.

Razavi’s mother was a refugee and her father came to the U.S. on a student Visa.

Razavi said if a ban was in effect when her parents tried to come to the U.S., she and her sister Kayla wouldn’t be here.

Both women went to the University of California at Berkeley and are both now working.

The rally’s spokeswoman Eliza Liittschwager said:

“Immigrants are what make America great.”

Bay City News

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