On June 14th, 2025, 5 million people attended rallies and marches in 2,100 locations in all 50 states across the USA, to protest the current policies of the government of President Trump. The photographs presented here were taken on that day by myself, photographer Reid Yalom. I am a Californian Photographer with a Romanian wife and I have been spending time in Romania for the past decade and publish my work with Editor Vellant. I want to show these images to the people of Romania to better explain the current situation, in particularly in the Western half of the US.
The photographs shown are from city of San Francisco, where over 100,000 people attended the protest and march. Despite it being one of the largest public gatherings here ever, it was a entirely peaceful, joyful and well thought out. As can be seen in the photographs, people turned out in playful clothes many carrying home made signs, that show both the commitment and the artistic nature of the Californian population. As the City and State governments are Democratic, there was clearly a decision made to support the protesters rather than to challenge them. Hence there was almost no police presence except at the end of the march near the city hall.
The Protest began at Dolores Park, which is near the Mission Saint Francis de Assis (Mission Dolores). Constructed around 1790, it is the oldest building in the city. After a period of people meeting friends and strangers, and then some short speeches, the protesters began the long march up Dolores St., past the Mission, to Market St, where the trolleys run, until turning into the plaza behind City Hall where additional speeches were given
As I mentioned earlier, the protest was entirely peaceful with an outpouring of support for those affected by the policies of current regime. Namely, Latinos and all immigrants (ICE refers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement - the agents that are carrying out mass deportations in California despite the wishes of the local cites and State governments), African Americans, whose representation in history books, economic opportunities, and ability to vote is being diminished, the LGBTQ community - which is centered just blocks away in the Castro district, Federal employees, such as the department of Education, and the National Institute of Health, USAID - who are losing 100,000's of jobs, and foreign policy related to the Gaza and Ukrainian Wars. You will find reference to these issues in the photographs.
The protesters themselves are made up of all ages, racial makeup, and sexual orientation. San Francisco and the surrounding region has always been an inclusive multicultural city, The cross pollination of cultures and ideas has kept it at the center of artistic, musical and technological innovation for the past 100 years.
(click on a photo for slideshow)
