Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Thousands of people gathered at the steps of the Texas capitol on April 5 to protest against the construction of a border wall through Big Bend National Park, in a show of bipartisan opposition to the White House’s plans.
More than 2,000 people attended the rally, according to Texas Public Radio, holding signs with slogans such as “No Big Bend NP Wall”, “Big Love for Big Bend” and “No al Muro” – Spanish for “No to the Wall”.
Organizers gathered postcards from protesters to deliver to Greg Abbott, the Texas Governor, who has yet to weigh in publicly on the border wall expansion plans at Big Bend. César Blanco, a Democratic state senator, said his office had been flooded with messages from constituents sharing stories of their love for Big Bend and their opposition to marring it with a border wall. “We all agree that border security matters,” he added. “But we don’t have to harm our communities in the process. We don’t have to destroy the ecosystem to achieve it. We can do it the right way.”
Brandon Herrera, a rightwing gun YouTuber running for the congressional seat that includes Big Bend, described opposition to building the wall there as “something we can actually agree on”.
