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They came by the hundreds to gather at the north end of Munn Park on Saturday.
Once they had assembled the signs went up:
“Hands Off Our Future” “Impeach Trump Arrest Musk” and others
Mari Marks, the policy manager for the Florida branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was a featured speaker at the Saturday rally. She urged the crowd to fight for free speech.
“When we say the First Amendment is under attack, we are not being dramatic. Most of the egregious action happening right now in the federal government and the state of Florida leads back to suppression of speech.”
Marks said people also must resist Israel’s war in Gaza, which she called genocide.
The Munn Park rally was part of an organized effort across Florida and the U.S. The web page for the Lakeland edition read, “Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. Polk County, Florida is fighting back!”