WASHINGTON: Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday in cities across the United States to pressure President Donald Trump to release his tax returns, a move of transparency he has refused to make.
“Until he does, we’ll never know what he’s hiding or who his policies are designed to benefit. We need a president who works for all Americans — and a tax system that does, too,” said the organizers of the “Tax March” demonstrations on its website.
The protests were timed to coincide with the traditional April 15 deadline for annual US tax filings.
In Washington, several thousand protesters of all ages gathered in front of the Capitol building housing Congress, holding signs such as “What is he hiding?” and “Real men pay their taxes.”
A huge inflatable chicken with an orange-gold beak and a swirl of hair resembling Trump’s was displayed on the sidelines of the Washington protest, and at other venues.
The figure — seen by some as the unofficial mascot for the protest — apparently meant to suggest that the Republican president was afraid, or chicken, to publish his tax records.
“If he’s got nothing to hide, he should release his tax returns,” said protester Liz Turner, 31.
Asked what she suspected was in them, Turner replied: “Maybe something to do with Russia?“
Ellen Lodwick, 67, a retired corporate researcher from Maryland who has participated in all the local anti-Trump demonstrations since his November 8 election, cast doubt on his business dealings.
“There are probably many illegal or questionable investments in things that could affect how he looks at government and legislation, because he’s too connected,” Lodwick said.
The protesters then marked along Pennsylvania Avenue in the direction of the White House, shouting “shame” as they passed by the Trump International Hotel.
In New York, thousands of protesters also marched, and demonstrations were held from Boston and Philadelphia on the East Coast to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles out West, and cities and towns in between.
In Berkeley, California violent clashes erupted between Trump supporters and opponents. At least 14 people were arrested, Berkeley police spokesman Byron White told CNN television.
For decades, US presidents and presidential candidates have released their tax returns voluntarily, although there is no legal requirement to do so. US law requires only the publication of a financial statement that estimates assets, including debt and revenue, but does not give details on the amount of taxes paid.
Trump, a billionaire property tycoon, released such a financial statement but has kept his tax returns private, both during the election campaign and since taking office in January.
Trump has justified his refusal to publish his returns by noting they are being audited. Federal tax authorities say that does not bar him from releasing the returns. Trump has repeatedly said he has used legal loopholes to minimize his tax burden.
“Disclosing tax returns is the very lowest ethical bar for a president, and we are going to insist that he clear it,” Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the crowd in Washington.
Trump was not in the city during the demonstration; he is again spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Several hundred “Tax March” protesters demonstrated outside the exclusive property Saturday.
“Pay your taxes!” several people yelled as they marched. One of them, a young girl, held a small sign that read “Trump is a tax e-VADER” and showed an image of Darth Vader wearing a blond hairpiece.
In New York, several thousand protesters assembled around Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, at a demonstration that was to include a march to the Trump International Hotel and Tower, where Trump lived before his election.
Protesters across US press Trump to release tax returns
Protesters across US press Trump to release tax returns
German court rules spy service may not label AfD ‘extremist’ for now
- The court found that there were indeed efforts to undermine Germany’s free democratic order from within the AfD
- Alice Weidel, the party’s co-leader, hailed the ruling as “a major victory not only for the AfD but also for democracy”
BERLIN: A German court ruled on Thursday that the domestic intelligence agency cannot label the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a “confirmed right-wing extremist” group, at least for now.
The AfD had challenged the designation, which would empower the spy agency to use broader surveillance powers to monitor it and would embolden political opponents seeking a ban of the anti-immigration party.
The Cologne administrative court’s decision puts the designation on hold pending the final outcome of a legal battle between the AfD and Germany’s intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
The court found that there were indeed efforts to undermine Germany’s free democratic order from within the AfD, highlighting its demands to ban Muslim minarets, public calls to prayer and headscarves in public institutions.
But it ruled that the party as a whole was not “shaped by these efforts” such that “an anti-constitutional tendency can be established” to characterise the party in its entirety as extremist.
Alice Weidel, the party’s co-leader, hailed the ruling as “a major victory not only for the AfD but also for democracy and the rule of law” in a post on X.
The decision had also “thrown a spanner in the works” for the “fanatics” seeking to outlaw the AfD, she added.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, a conservative, noted that the court decision still found reason to suspect the AfD of working “against the free democratic order” and “pursuing anti-constitutional aims.”
The party will continue to be monitored as a “suspected” extremist group, he added.
- Politically isolated -
The AfD was founded in 2013 primarily as a euroskeptic party, but has since become more hard-line nationalist, putting an anti-immigrant stance at the heart of its appeals to voters.
The party surged to become the largest opposition force in last year’s nationwide election, winning nearly 21 percent of the vote.
The AfD is particularly strong in the formerly communist East Germany, holding commanding leads in the polls ahead of several key state-level elections there later this year.
But it remains frozen out of power across the country, as all other political parties have maintained a “firewall” against it and refused to consider cooperating.
Many in mainstream German politics see the AfD’s far-right positions and rhetoric as taboo, a view informed in part by Germany’s dark Nazi history.
The intelligence agency moved to officially classify the national AfD party as a “confirmed extremist” organization on May 2 of last year, a step up from its previous designation as a “suspected” case.
The party filed a lawsuit against the move and the BfV agreed to suspend the classification until a court ruling on the matter is issued.
Several regional AfD party organizations have already been designated as “confirmed extremist” groups.
- Calls to ban -
Thursday’s decision by the Cologne court, which can still be appealed, keeps it on hold until a verdict is reached in the AfD’s broader challenge to the classification.
Some of the AfD’s political foes have advocated banning the party — a process for which there are high legal hurdles in Germany.
It would require, for example, evidence that a party is actively trying to abolish the democratic order and has the means to do so.
Dobrindt and a number of other conservatives have criticized such a move, arguing instead that the AfD must be defeated at the ballot box.
On Thursday, Dobrindt said the court decision only underscored how high the legal hurdles for action against a political party is.
“I have repeatedly said if we want the AfD to go away it should be by governing competently and not by banning them,” Dobrindt said.
