Musicians from Mexico, Guatemala, and Germany, held a “Tear Down That Wall” protest in Tijuana, Mexico, on Saturday. They were not alone as Trump supporters showed up to the demonstration.
The Dresden Symphony headlined the “Tear Down That Wall” concert. The name of the event was meant to elicit memories of President Ronald Reagan’s iconic demand to Michail Gorbachev for the Soviet Union to tear down the wall that divided East and West Berlin, the NBC affiliate in the Bay Area reported. Reagan’s call came during a speech made in West Berlin in 1987.
Authorities with the U.S. Border Patrol denied promoters of the event license to have it take place at Friendship Park in San Diego where a border fence divides the California state park from Mexico, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The Union-Tribune reported in advance of the concert that Markus Rindt, the founder and artistic director of the German symphony orchestra, was a music student in East Germany in his early twenties when the Berlin Wall came down.
Rindt told the Tribune, “This is against nationalism, against isolationism.” He added, “I could also say, ‘Tear down all walls.’ We are one planet, and there have to be possibilities for the future other than building walls everywhere, higher and higher and higher.”
Facebook user “Now This” posted the following video showing scenes from the concert and its message:
An anti-Trump protester at the event, Keith James told NBC Bay Area, “It’s outrage because we know in the sights of Trump and Pence and this regime to deport millions and millions of immigrants, to discriminate against them, to detain them, to separate their families.
James urged, “We cannot wait. We have to get out in the street in our millions, and we’ve got to do it now.”
The NBC affiliate reported that Trump supporters on the other side of the border wall in San Diego shouted, “USA, USA” and held signs that read, “Yes, Yes, Build the Wall.”
Robin Havidston, a Trump supporter told NBC, “As Trump supporters, we decided to come out and make a statement that we support our president, and we support border security and we also support building the wall.”
“I feel disappointed that the issue of just upholding our laws is not more prominent,” she explained.
A YouTube video posted by “We The People Rising” shows the protest from the U.S. side of the border.
Rindt’s original idea for the protest was to have children’s choirs from Tijuana and San Diego perform at the same time on opposite sides of the existing border wall. The Tribune reported that directors from a children’s chorus in San Diego decided not to participate “due to the political aspect of the project.”
Funds for the event were raised by the Kickstarter campaign. It helped raise money for the German symphony to “protest against nationalism and isolation worldwide,” the fundraising website states.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.