‘Reeks of corruption’: protesters rally as Trump hosts UFC event on his birthday | Donald Trump

Dozens of people stood outside the gates of the Ellipse park south of the White House on Sunday afternoon, holding protest signs and chanting slogans as the president prepared to host seven mixed martial arts fights on the lawn.

Thousands of fight fans pushed their way through protesters to the large public viewing area that the Trump administration and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which hosts the fights, erected steps from the White House. The cage fights, marketed as a celebration of the country’s “fighting spirit” ahead of its 250th anniversary, are being held on Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

Protesters carried a large puppet cage featuring oversized figures of Trump and his cabinet members; it was a piece of street theater that drew stares from tourists and boos from UFC spectators.

“This stinks of corruption, there’s a lot of corruption,” said Susan Douglas, an organizer with Third Act Virginia, a progressive pro-democracy grassroots organization that organized the demonstration. “Let’s face it,” he added. “This is Trump’s birthday and it has nothing to do with the founding of our country.”

Douglas was one of two plaintiffs in an urgent federal lawsuit filed by the Public Integrity Project, an anti-corruption nonprofit that seeks to block the UFC event altogether. But just two days ago, Douglas learned that a federal judge had dismissed the case. “I was horrified,” Douglas said as he watched the crowd pass by.

Thousands of UFC fans and Trump supporters stood behind two rows of barricades on Constitution Avenue as they waited to enter the viewing area on 15th Street. Protesters chanted “Whose house? Our house!” They marched with banners and chanted slogans. and “Whose lawn? Our lawn!” Trump fans responded: USA! AMERICA! UFC! UFC!”

The afternoon rally, held under the banner “The Real Fight is for Democracy,” was one of many demonstrations held in Washington D.C. and across the country as Trump hosted the first private, nonprofit sporting event held on White House grounds.

Protesters said they opposed the event for several reasons, including that Trump owns a significant stake in TKO, the UFC’s parent company, and that the event commercializes federal park lands. Others have taken issue with the inherently violent nature of the event, arguing that cage fighting is not eligible for federal property, especially as the United States continues to fight fights abroad.

Fighters will exit the Oval Office and march to the 25-foot-tall steel cage known as “The Claw” on the South Lawn, while VIP guests who have paid up to $1.5 million for admission watch from ringside.

“[The Claw] “It’s not grand at all,” Douglas said. “It doesn’t match the beautiful architecture of our city. People’s homes should not be used for money-making sporting events. Full stop.”

“We wanted to show what a terrible group of people this administration is,” said Marco Smith, a Third Act Virginia member who spearheaded the construction of the cage and puppets. “We built the cage to show them where they belong behind bars – not in the UFC cage, but in the prison cage.”

UFC fans booed protesters and chanted Trump’s name as they entered the gates of the viewing event. Protesters shouted in response: “No national guard!”, “Free DC!” and “No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!”.

“This is a fascist, money-grabbing opportunity,” said Jason Simpson, a protester who rang the gong for UFC fans and traveled from Connecticut to join the protest. “We must continue to fight back,” he said, explaining that in the past few weeks he attended protests outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, where he was pepper-sprayed and beaten with a baton by police.

As the protests continued, the sound of sports bikes accelerating could be heard over the steel fences through which the crowd entered. Hundreds of law enforcement officials, including the national guard, Metropolitan police, Park police and the Secret Service, patrolled the area on foot, on horseback, on motorcycles, tanks and other armored vehicles.

A different kind of protest is taking place a few blocks away. Approximately 100 people gathered at the Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, brought together by the Federal Unionist Network, DC Ward 2 Mutual Aid and the DC Local to Global Solidarity Network, as well as the anti-war feminist organization Code Pink, and then moved toward the fight site at Constitution and 15th Street, where they held a community dinner and program under the banner “They Fight, We Feed.”

For Olivia DiNucci, CodePink’s anti-militarism organizer who spearheaded the evening’s action, the UFC fight wasn’t just a birthday party or a corruption scheme. This was a symptom of something deeper.

“We’re screaming that this is already a highly militarized city, and now we have people on the South Lawn fighting each other and trying to create fear and violence like they do everywhere else in the world,” DiNucci said. “We need a world of peace, of caring for and nurturing each other.”

The group raised funds for local organizations and hosted a community dinner, creating a deliberate contrast to what was happening a few hundred yards away. The connection between military spending and hunger is not coincidental, DiNucci said.

“We’re about to sign a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget; the largest Pentagon budget we’ve ever had, the largest DHS budget we’ve ever had, and the largest cuts to social safety nets,” he said. “People say, ‘How are we going to pay for this?’ I tell them that poverty in this country is violence. “The fact that we have endless money for war and weapons is not surprising when you see how much war and violence is glorified in the background of something like this UFC fight.”

DiNucci added: “It is absolutely appalling that people in this country go to bed every night not knowing where their next meal will be, while gun manufacturers get bored of killing. Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire. This should never exist in a world where people are starving and bombed to death.”

DiNucci said Sunday’s action was part of a broader season of counterprogramming. “Our protest today is just one way people have been resisting this false narrative of Freedom 250 all summer long,” he said. “We are developing counterprogramming to juxtapose supernationalism, fascism and militarism.”

As the main card begins proceedings on the South Lawn, the First Amendment Committee will begin Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment, a 90-minute program featuring Bette Midler, Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Jane Fonda, Julia Roberts, Joy Reid, Lily Gladstone and others. Concert live broadcasts To over 500 viewing parties hosted by No Kings Coalition and Indivisible.

“We can let dictatorial politics and corruption define the moment,” No Kings said in a statement. “Or we can make America’s story about people coming together across race, background, identity, faith and community to defend our rights and build a future based on the power of people.”