About 100 people gathered outside the Alachua County Clerk’s Office in downtown Gainesville on Wednesday evening to protest against the Trump administration’s continued war efforts against Iran. The demonstration joined a nationwide series of protests taking place in more than 60 cities across the country.
What organizers described as an “emergency protest” — which was planned in less than a day — was sparked by President Donald Trump’s Friday night Truth Social post setting an 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to declare a ceasefire, warning the country’s “whole civilization will die tonight” if it failed to do so.
The protest was organized by members of Gainesville’s chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, who have previously led several other demonstrations against the Trump administration.
The protest began at 6:30 p.m. and united community members to participate in group-led chants, give speeches and hold up signs toward passing drivers.
Attendees chanted “The biggest threat in the world today — Donald Trump and the U.S.A.” and “Billions for war, can’t feed the poor.”
Hunter Wesley, a 28-year-old Gainesville resident and PSL member who helped organize the protest, said he hopes the demonstration shows the administration that the war on Iran is not being fought in the interest of the American people.
“We don’t support what’s being done with our tax dollars,” Wesley said. “And we don’t support what’s being done in the name of the American citizens.”
According to USAspending.gov, the Department of Defense’s 2026 budget is over $2 trillion. Protesters cited the spending as part of a broader critique on consumer affordability, noting working-class Americans struggle to afford daily necessities while government spending is allocated to war efforts rather than resources to support them.
Marilyn Wende, a 32-year-old Gainesville resident and PSL member, said the war in Iran is directly contributing to the nation’s affordability crisis.
“We want to make it clear that these wars are not fought for the interests of the working people, but for the millionaires and billionaires who stand to gain a lot of money from these endless wars,” Wende said.
Wende argued it is unacceptable for Americans to struggle with the costs of health care, housing and education while trillions of dollars are directed toward wars that she said lack public support.
“If people don’t believe that there is a direct consequence in our lives, they can just look at the gas pump right now,” Wende said. “I just paid $4.30 for gas recently, and it was $2.75 at the beginning of January.”
Gas prices surged nationwide in the wake of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which disrupted oil transit through the Strait of Hormuz. The average cost of gas in Gainesville was $4.22 per gallon as of April 9, according to the AAA Fuel Prices report.
Multiple local activist organizations collaborated with PSL for the event.
Haley Pridgeon, a 20-year-old UF political science and African American studies junior, attended as an officer of UF’s chapter of Students for Socialism.
For her, the protest was an opportunity to make her voice heard against the Trump administration’s ongoing conflicts with Iran.
“Things are being funded to bomb children and level entire civilizations, and yet, we can’t get free health care,” Pridgeon said. “We can’t get free school. We can’t get anything.”
Another UF student, 23-year-old Dani Gonzales, played a prominent role in the protest as one of the keynote speakers. During her speech, Gonzales expressed her frustration with Trump and the administration’s “call to genocide.”
“I just can’t sit with myself if I don’t do anything about it,” Gonzales said. “I can’t go on with my regular work and school and not do anything about the fact that he is threatening a whole group of people abroad that have lives just like me.”
During her speech, Gonzales noted many Americans face challenges affording health care while the administration allocates significant funding to military operations.
The protest remained outside the Alachua County Clerk’s Office for about two hours. Event organizers announced the action would continue on May 1 in a nationwide strike opposing the Trump administration’s war funding.
“We are the people who make everything happen in this country, and we will stand against this kind of horrific aggression of civilians all over the world,” said Zach Whiteman, a 32-year-old Gainesville resident. “If it continues, we are going to shut down the economy.”
Whiteman expressed hope that the general strike and related actions across the country would signal to leaders that the American people reject support for these conflicts.
“We’re going to let them know that the government is buying for the people, and not the other way around.”
Molly Freeburg is a contributing writer for The Alligator.
