A rally took place Wednesday outside of the Downtown Phoenix campus, where several students joined in alongside a crowd protesting against fascism.
The group congregated in the center of Civic Space Park and faced Central Avenue as they voiced chants led by event organizers and local activists.
The rally advocated for several left-leaning political topics, such as immigration, women's rights and the Israel-Hamas war.
With classes in session and the Downtown Phoenix campus active with University staff and students, the protest started at 2 p.m. and continued for over four hours.
The rally caught a lot of attention from students and pedestrians passing through the park, as some of them sat on the curb next to the demonstration to observe.
Noah Paz, a freshman studying popular music, said he heard about the protest in the dorms through a friend. Even though he had class in Tempe, he said he decided to participate because the event was so "powerful."
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"It (the protest) embodies what I believe in and what I hope to stand for," Paz said. "I just hope to be a part of something."
Paz said he is looking to the University to make safer and more accessible opportunities for students to speak their minds, just as they were at the protest.
Kayla DiGiacomo, a freshman studying public service and public policy, joined the crowd with Paz and said the demonstration was a great way for students to get their voices heard.
"Everyone's full of thoughts and emotions at this time because there's so much going on," DiGiacomo said.
Carolina Rabinovich, a freshman studying public service and public policy was motivated to attend the protest because they were speaking out against subjects that were significant and close to them.
Rabinovich is part of the LGBTQ+ community and their father is an immigrant, making them personally affected by conflicts, such as executive orders written by President Donald Trump focusing on DEI and strict immigration policies.
"A lot of my friends are trans, so I think it's something that really needs to be overstated," Rabinovch said.
The protest started with around 50 attendees and grew to about 150 over the first two hours as it lined up parallel to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism building.
Katie Seger, a senior studying applied biological sciences, said she expected the crowd to be smaller and was relieved to see it had grown.
"We got here about an hour ago and there weren't as many people, but it's a really good thing that people can organize," Seger said. "This one's a little bit smaller but still as powerful."
Seger said she was motivated to attend the protests because she believes the current presidential administration "goes against so many laws that were set in this country to protect people of color, immigrants, gay people, trans people."
"It's actually insane that the Trump administration thinks that they can overturn laws for their bigotry," Seger said.
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Next to the demonstration, stood the University Street Market, where several booths continued to sell clothes throughout the protest.
Frida Melchor, a University alum, was conducting business as a vendor at the University Street Market, as the protest was taking place right next to her.
Melchor said while she hadn't sold clothes in Downtown Phoenix before, they had to stay late because business was slower than anticipated.
While the rally could have intercepted Melchor as she conducted business, she didn't mind it at all and said she was frustrated that she couldn't join in.
"It's awesome that people can come together and protest against something as a union, as a whole," Melchor said. "If I wasn't here, I would be over there."
Edited by George Headley, Abigail Beck, Tiya Talwar and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at ehprest1@asu.edu and follow @ellis_reports on X.
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Ellis is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication. This is her first semester with The State Press. She has also worked at Arizona PBS and Blaze Radio.