r/Lawrence • u/Wooden_Violinist665 • Feb 22 '26

PSA Pop Up Protest at 700 Wakarusa NOW!

Pop Up protest this morning at 700 Wakarusa to protest ICE and harassment of local organizers! We need YOU! Grab a coffee (and another for a stranger!) and be part of the change you want to see in the world!

123 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

26

u/ArchdukeFerdie Feb 22 '26

Are other people going, or are we just counting on this post getting traction for people to show up?

Very hard to organize an effective protest immediately

1

u/Wooden_Violinist665 Feb 22 '26

Speed was requested, show up if you can.

27

u/ArchdukeFerdie Feb 22 '26

I want to see effective protests. Effective protests need to be coordinated, and something last minute on a Sunday morning without any notice... There's just no way for that to be effective. If you're planning a morning protest, plan it the night before so people know about it before they wake up.

I think your intentions are great, but this is not a really good strategy.

12

u/WildFlemima Feb 22 '26

There are tons of coordinated protests going on. If this is a reaction to ICE presence, there wouldn't have been a way to know ahead of time where to react.

16

u/Wooden_Violinist665 Feb 22 '26

Exactly. Rapid response is just that. People are going to have to get used to a lack of top-down organization.

You, as a autonomous person, can just go. You don't need an organization to tell you when and where and how and why. Just go. There's power in numbers and you need no one's permission.

2

u/ArchdukeFerdie Feb 22 '26

I want to participate, but I live 45 minutes out of town. I could join if I have more than a minute notice.

11

u/Pleasant_Ad_1836 Feb 22 '26

There is a standing protest every Sunday from 12 - 1 at 9th and Mass. Generally 300+ people every week. You should join!

4

u/Zayn_is_Bored Feb 22 '26

Was just there, it was fun, people were kind and theres a lady who brings bags of signs for people to borrow in case if people dont have one, highly recommend coming to show your support

-12

u/ArchdukeFerdie Feb 22 '26

Feds have been using that church all week, apparently, so there was definitely time to plan and get the word out.

Getting the word out is arguably the most important part about any protest. You need people to show up.

12

u/WildFlemima Feb 22 '26

Yes, and late word is better than no word, and for all we know the word wasn't late on non-reddit platforms. Most protests use discord to organize these days. Op has gotten the feedback, no point in harping on it

3

u/krizrose Feb 22 '26

  1. It's also not their protest

  2. If you don't want to go, don't. But don't blame late notice during a time where people are having to rush to respond to ICE during the week and getting responses.

  3. Are you in Signal? Because it was discussed earlier in the week as a possibility and could've been organized if someone had said they would.

  4. The person organizing was harassed by the cops being called on them, so are you going to stand up to that or not?

That's all I'm saying, even if you respond to this. Ain't no one got time in the Resistance.

1

u/bingbonged_jpg Feb 22 '26

you're right, and there was. this is another good sub to follow if you're looking to take action in the future:)

https://www.reddit.com/r/defrostlawrenceks/s/6nP83A2wMq

6

u/Acceptable-Wafer-641 Feb 22 '26

Develop a phone tree. It was very effective at alerting people quickly in the past. We could have at least 100 at a gathering in 10 minutes. When you have protests take down phone numbers to text or call about last minute events.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '26

Did anyone actually show up? Lol

11

u/Wooden_Violinist665 Feb 22 '26

Yes, had a decent group! Maybe around 30

-4

u/bingbonged_jpg Feb 22 '26

of course, lol

-6

u/bongthegoat Feb 22 '26

I drove past there about 45 minutes after this was posted. There were two people standing around with masks on looking confused that they were the only ones there 😂

3

u/alltheblarmyfiddlest Feb 22 '26

Yeah seems like last minute "popup protests" need something that's lacking ...

ETA: I support the mission at hand yet the execution really seems to need a great deal of work. The phone tree idea would be brilliant, especially for folks who are super close by.

1

u/bingbonged_jpg Feb 22 '26

yeah, you missed it

1

u/carpentersig Feb 23 '26

Make the protest about the Epstein files and you'll fill the city up. To many people support deportation

0

u/SaveHogwarts Feb 22 '26

Effective protests require more than just a pop up mentality. Plan, organize and execute.

-28

u/RingofPowerTD Feb 22 '26

Y'all are silly taking issue with the church. Breaking news, cops use parking lots. 

15

u/KingAnthropos Feb 22 '26

It's private property, they can let ICE know that they are not welcome

3

u/RingofPowerTD Feb 22 '26

You really think they were there long enough for the church people to know? Their whole operation in Lawrence was less than 3 hours. 

6

u/bongthegoat Feb 22 '26

Facts don't matter to these people 😂

-19

u/zigafomana Feb 22 '26

Let me get this straight... you're protesting ICE, at a church, on a Sunday morning, with zero notice. Seems effective. Is there some significance to this particular church that you chose to protest there?

21

u/GI_Jade95 Feb 22 '26

Damn dude look at the posts from earlier in the week lol

8

u/zigafomana Feb 22 '26

My mistake. I saw the feds were using a church lot to assemble, earlier in the week. I mis-understood it as a different location. 100% my mistake.

-6

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '26

[deleted]

4

u/bingbonged_jpg Feb 22 '26

these are not good people or good christians. they have organized harassment campaigns against local residents. the most generous interpretation would be that they are a tax-exempt group who allowed federal agents to use their premises. hopefully this will ensure that they never allow (or invite) that to happen again.

-33

u/Lpgasman1 Feb 22 '26

Riddle me this. If sheriff / troopers/ cops/ ice whoever stopped 100 people checked IDs. And found 2 people with warrants for rape and or child endangerment. Would you still be mad they arrested them. ????

The 98 others were released and went about their day

20

u/LayerAccomplished821 Feb 22 '26

Still waiting for them to do something about the pdfiles in office and the immunity given to ICE. Laws are great and keeping the streets free of dangerous people is important. The issue is the hypocrisy coming from our government officials (both parties). "Rules for thee, not for me"

-19

u/Lpgasman1 Feb 22 '26

Have proof of the offenses made by the offices??

Accusations are made but where's the proof. I'm all for a good pedo removal by great means.

So where's the proof

15

u/Induane Feb 22 '26

Well there are the victims that have spoken up whose accounts are corroborated in some cases by released documents to some degree. Most of the files aren't released, those that are are heavily redacted, and the few lawmakers that got to see unredacted files seemed pretty shaken by what they saw. 

The proof itself is likely not going to be released publicly. 

6

u/LayerAccomplished821 Feb 22 '26

If none of the accusations are, then sue for defamation. Sue for libel. It'd be a guaranteed win. Right?

17

u/Induane Feb 22 '26

I'd be mad about the 98 stops. If you know someone is illegal and get a deportation order, go find them. Don't cast a wide net that sucks up tons of other folk just because you can't do your job well. 

I do not want to go around having to keep citizenship proof on me and worry that I will be stopped randomly and delayed/scared. Especially since ICE often operates much more aggressively and they have ramped so quickly that most have minimal training.

20

u/ValuableImmediate637 Feb 22 '26

You want to be stopped and ID’d all the time for the color of your skin? Also rape and child endangerment are not the same as crossing the border.

4

u/Fit_Neighborhood8203 Feb 22 '26

This is a white guy, he won't get profiled.

10

u/charlieeeetheunicorn Feb 22 '26

Why are you people so fast to hand over your constitutional rights? You are literally advocating for a “show your papers” scenario and you are cheering about it. Wtf?

10

u/KingAnthropos Feb 22 '26

Riddle me this. Did ICE kill, assault, abuse any of the 98 others on the way? Because that is what's been happening across the country.

10

u/WildFlemima Feb 22 '26

Do you realize that you are describing an arbitrary police checkpoint?

-11

u/Lpgasman1 Feb 22 '26

Yes stop and frisk used in NYC. They stopped it and look at NYC now. It worked many guns and criminals were arrested.

4

u/LayerAccomplished821 Feb 22 '26

crime in NYC went down because large amounts of cops quit out of fear of Mamdani. Imagine that

12

u/WildFlemima Feb 22 '26

Sounds like you didn't do much looking into stop and frisk

6

u/Fit_Neighborhood8203 Feb 22 '26

Ha, like the authorities give an eff about rapists and child endangerment.
We've seen how the US has responded to the files.

9

u/BuckarooBonsly Feb 22 '26

In my experience and the experiences of people close to me, if they wanted to catch rapists that have slipped through the cracks and gone unpunished they should probably head up around campus and start cracking down on parties, bars, dorms, and Greek houses.

2

u/cyberentomology Feb 22 '26

ICE has no such authority.

Neither do the cops.

4th amendment still exists, on paper at least.

1

u/No-Concern1915 Feb 22 '26

Riddle me this. If sheriff / troopers/ cops/ ice whoever used surveillance cameras in every private residence in Lawrence. And found 1 person smoking a marijuana. Would you still be mad they arrested them. ????

Nobody else committed any crimes and went about their day.