'We Won't Be Silent': 1,000+ Students Protest Trump's DC Takeover

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/dc-takeover

'We Won't Be Silent': 1,000+ Students Protest Trump's DC Takeover

"The students leading today's walkouts are showing the entire nation what it means to resist authoritarianism with strength and solidarity," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

JESSICA CORBETT
Sep 09, 2025

As US President Donald Trump expands his authoritarian takeovers of Democrat-led cities, more than 1,000 students from four universities in Washington, DC walked out to protest the Republican's recent actions in the nation's capital.

Students from American University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, and Howard University are protesting Trump's deployment of National Guard troops and federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), which have also provoked a lawsuit from DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb and a congressional resolution that aims to stop his takeover.

"Students are showing the country that we won't be silent while Trump tries to strip DC residents of our rights," American University student organizer Asher Heisten said in a statement circulated Tuesday by the youth-led Sunrise Movement.

"When Trump sends federal forces into DC, he is trying to intimidate and silence us," Heisten continued. "But students are proving that we will fight back to reject Trump's dangerous authoritarianism."

… The students were joined by a pair of progressive lawmakers, US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).… more …