(Image source from: www.chicagotribune.com)

While President Donald Trump visited the city of Chicago for the first time since his appointment as the President, he didn’t have good things to say about the city, especially the kind of values they harbor. President Trump wasn’t the only one lashing out as the citizens were equally protesting his presence in the state.

Following his dreaded speech addressing the state’s open stance for the immigrants and the other prospects, Donald Trump was criticized for his speech by the Mayor of Chicago and the people present around. Protesting such ill thoughts and beliefs that Trump professed upon his visit, thousands of people took to the streets to protest against his present, saying “He wasn’t welcome here.”

President Trump went down to compare Chicago to Afghanistan relaying the constant crime in the city as an “embarrassment to the nation.” But, it seemed like the locals and the people from the state weren’t having any of the accusations that the President threw on them.

To protest against everything that Trump said, thousands of people came out on the streets with posters and placards protesting against him being in the state.

Pam Capraro, who is 65 years old and was part of the protest that happened along the Chicago river said that Trump is not welcome in the city as he stands for everything that Chicago isn’t, including racism, sexism and xenophobia.

Eddie Johnson, who is the police superintendent of Chicago, didn’t attend the President’s address which Trump went on to claim as a “disgrace”. Majority of the protestors gathered around the curvy skyscraper on the river downtown where Trump later visited for a fundraiser.

Some of the protestors held up rainbow coloured signs and placards with the word “Resist” written on them. Some of the protestors also wore red in support of the Chicago’s public schoolteachers who have been on a strike for eight days now because of a raging dispute with the administration.

One man in the crowd was also found holding a sign that said, “Go Away.”

Marsha Durbin, a resident of Indiana, had different thoughts against the crowd and worse a Trump shirt in the President’s support. She stated saying, “I think he’s doing a great job. We would have globalism without him. And thank God he’s here addressing the violence problem.”

Ian Wallace, another protestor who is 38 years old, wanted to stand with his fellow citizens to stand against the President to fight against what he preaches and believes in as a President.

Wallace stated saying. “We wanted to show our disappointment with him. There’s a lot of negative things you hear about Chicago, and it’s almost always from someone who doesn’t live here. We love our city.”

Trump has been on a recent tour visiting some of the places that he is frowned upon including San Francisco Bay Area and Minneapolis, aside from Chicago.

Johnson, the police superintendent of Chicago, mentioned last week itself that he isn’t going to be attending the President’s address as he believes that his visit doesn’t line up with the core values of the city along with his personal values as well.

In an issued statement, Johnson stated saying, “I can’t in good conscience stand by while racial insults and hatred are cast from the Oval Office, or Chicago is held hostage because of our views on New Americans.”

This isn’t the first time that Trump has criticized Chicago and the kind of crime rate that they have. This was his first visit following winning the Presidential election and the response to the visit was definitely nothing that he expected to witness around.

-Somapika Dutta