A group organizing protests against President Trump’s visit to a medical swab manufacturing plant in Guilford is urging supporters to avoid the small northern Maine town on Friday to minimize the potential for violence.
Gov. Janet Mills also urged those who gather Thursday to express their positions peacefully, whether they support or oppose the president.
In messages shared with the press and on Facebook Thursday, the leaders of a group that calls itself “We Are Maine” asks protesters to assemble instead in Bangor.
“After communication with local organizers and law enforcement in Guilford, and the interest of safety of both protesters and the Guilford community, we are encouraging those who are currently planning to protest in Guilford to redirect their energy to the planned and organized protest in Bangor to meet the President when he first arrives in Maine,” a statement from the group read.
The group also warned that protesters in Guilford could face additional risks, including from armed Trump supporters who may also be traveling to the small, Piscataquis County town of about 1,500 people to show their support. Organizers said an alternative protest area in a parking lot across from the Congregational Church in Dover-Foxcroft, 8 miles from Guilford, would also be available.
While Trump critics were preparing to voice their disapproval, some of his supporters said Thursday they believed his visit to Puritan Medical Products, which accelerated the making of cotton testing swabs for the coronavirus pandemic at the government’s direction, should be seen as a positive thing.
“The President of the United States is coming and going to Puritan to thank the workers for all their hard work,” said state Sen. Paul Davis, a Republican from Sangerville whose district includes Guilford. He said the $75 million contract the company had just won to expand production was a good thing, as it would keep Puritan workers employed while growing jobs in nearby Pittsfield as well.
“Thanking the men and women who work there, I think it’s a great thing,” said Davis, adding that he believed it was the first time a U.S. president had ever visited the town and people were excited for the attention.
Before going to Guilford, Trump was expected to also participate in a closed-door, roundtable discussion with commercial fishermen in Bangor.
In a statement issued by her office late Thursday afternoon, Mills said she hoped Trump would take to heart what he heard from those fishermen as well.
“I am especially hopeful that he will address the impact that harmful Federal trade policies have had on them over the course of the past several years and pledge support for greater Federal financial assistance to aid them,” Mills said. “That would be welcomed and helpful.”
She urged protesters to keep themselves safe Friday as COVID-19 was still active and spreading around the state.
“Let us all remember during this time of high tension that, regardless of our various and differing political beliefs, we are all members of this Maine family,” Mills said. “We all love our country, we all love our state, and we all want the best for both.”
Piscataquis County Sheriff Robert Young, whose agency will assist with providing security for the visit, did not respond to messages left by a reporter Thursday. In a Facebook post Tuesday, Young urged protestors on both sides to be peaceful.
Puritan is one of only two global producers of swabs used to test patients for the coronavirus. A White House official said Monday the president “is expected to champion the administration’s success in harnessing and bolstering American manufacturing capabilities to create American-made medical supplies and medicine to respond to COVID-19.”
The company received $75.5 million to double its production from 20 million to 40 million swabs in order to help address shortages of the supplies needed to test patients for COVID-19.
Organizers of the Bangor protest, which include Rev. Dr. Malcolm Himschoot, co-pastor, Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono, and Marie Follatayer, from activist organization Mainers for Accountable Leadership, said the protesters would assemble in Bangor at 11 a.m.
Another Facebook group, “Guilford, Maine Peaceful Protest for Black Lives Matter” appeared to have been taken down on Thursday. The group had drawn “interest” responses from about 1,700 people, but it’s not clear if that protest will still take place.
Several Maine cities, including Portland have been gripped by protests in recent days over the death of George Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis who died in police custody last week.
Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder after he kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd could be heard telling police that he couldn’t breathe.
More than 9,000 people have been arrested across the country in connection with unrest over Floyd’s death, and at least 12 deaths have been reported, though the circumstances in many cases are still being sorted out, The Associated Press reported.
Monday afternoon Trump authorized the use of tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters outside of a Washington, D.C. church in order to clear a space for the president to stand with a Bible for a photo op.
The action has been highly criticized by faith leaders and Maine’s entire U.S. Congressional delegation, including by Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, has also expressed her concern over Trump’s visit, saying she is worried about the security and safety of Maine residents.
Mills voiced those concerns during a conference call with Trump and other governors earlier this week, and she also asked Attorney General William Barr, who was on the conference call, to share with Maine the intelligence information he said federal authorities had about professional violent protesters possibly coming to Maine to exploit the situation.
Mills’ office did not immediately respond to a reporter’s questions Friday about the Trump visit and whether the federal government had shared any such intelligence information with the state.
Young, the county sheriff, said in his post on Facebook that he hopes “folks will let the employees of Hardwood Products/Puritan Medical Products have their moment of recognition, as the President, on behalf of the nation, expresses our collective thanks.”
He said that in “ordinary times” a visit from a sitting president would be greatly welcomed.
“Sadly, at this time, our nation is so full of strife and rancor, that the good nature of his coming is overshadowed by the politics of our time,” Young wrote. The sheriff also expressed his “shock and dismay” over Floyd’s death.
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Group warns Trump protesters to avoid Guilford, gather in Bangor - Press Herald
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