What we are talking about here is life and death for so many people."
New York/Washington (ANTARA News) - Tens of thousands of people rallied in US cities and at airports on Sunday to voice outrage over President Donald Trumps executive order restricting entry into the country for travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

In New York, Washington and Boston, a second wave of demonstrations followed spontaneous rallies that broke out at US airports on Saturday as U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began enforcing Trumps directive. The protests spread westward as the day progressed.

The order, which bars admission of Syrian refugees and suspends travel to the United States from Iraq, Iran, Sudan and four other countries on national security grounds, has led to the detention or deportation of hundreds of people arriving at US airports.

One of the largest of Sundays protests took place at Battery Park in lower Manhattan, within sight of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, long a symbol of welcome to US shores, Reuters reported.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York told the crowd that Trumps order was un-American and ran counter to the countrys core values.

"What we are talking about here is life and death for so many people," Schumer said. "I will not rest until these horrible orders are repealed."

The march, estimated to have grown to about 10,000 people, later began heading to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in lower Manhattan.

In Washington, thousands rallied at Lafayette Square across from the White House, chanting: "No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here."

It was the second straight weekend that Washington was the scene of protests. Last Saturday, hundreds of thousands of women participated in an anti-Trump rally and march, one of dozens staged across the country.

On Sunday, many of the protesters left the White House area and marched along Pennsylvania Avenue, stopping at the Trump International Hotel where they shouted: "Shame, shame, shame."

A crowd that police estimated at 8,000 eventually arrived at the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where a line of uniformed officers stood guard.

As the crowd passed the Canadian Embassy en route to the Capitol, protesters chanted: "Hey hey, ho ho, I wish our leader was Trudeau." It was a reference to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Saturday Twitter message affirming his countrys welcoming policy toward refugees.

Trump defended the executive order in a statement on Sunday, saying the United States would resume issuing visas to all countries once secure policies were put in place over the next 90 days.

"To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting," Trump said. "This is not about religion - this is about terror and keeping our country safe."

NEVER AGAIN MEANS NEVER

Aria Grabowski, 30, of Washington, was carrying a sign that read: "Never again means never again for everyone."

Above the slogan was a photograph of Jewish refugees who fled Germany in 1939 on a ship that was turned away from Havana, Cuba, and forced to return to Europe. More than 250 people aboard the ship were eventually killed by the Nazis.

Rhonda Reese, 56, of northern Virginia, said: "As a Muslim, I do appreciate the support that I see. Our community feels under siege right now."

About 200 protesters chanted on Sunday afternoon at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia near Washington. About the same number gathered at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, where anxious families awaited relatives detained for hours after flights from countries affected by the presidential order.

At Los Angeles International Airport, hundreds of people had gathered at Tom Bradley Terminal to protest Trumps order, as chants of "refugees are welcome here" echoed through the arrivals hall. Travelers at times struggled to make their way around the boisterous yet peaceful crowd, which blocked an entrance to the hall.

Organizers estimated that more than 10,000 people gathered at Bostons Copley Square to hear speakers including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a vocal critic of Trump and a leader of the Democratic Partys liberal wing.

During the protests, dozens of Muslims, some of them kneeling on protest signs, bowed in prayer on rugs laid out on a grassy patch of ground in the square.

In Houston, which was already filling up with visitors for next Sundays Super Bowl, about 500 people marched through the downtown.

Jennifer Fagen, 47, a sociology professor at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, said she hoped she did not lose her job for protesting.

"Im Jewish, and its supposed to be never again," Fagen said, referring to the Holocaust. "Jews should be the first ones to defend Muslims, considering what has happened to us, and it seems its being repeated under Trump."

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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