Gov. Greg Abbott is deploying Texas National Guard troops ahead of planned anti-Trump protests this weekend, but he won’t say how many or where they are going — only that they are ready to provide the “most robust response where needed.”
“You break the law, you cross the line, you’ll be arrested,” Abbott said at a press conference on Wednesday. “There is freedom of speech. However, if in your protest, you damage somebody’s property, or you harm an individual, that’s violating the law, and you will be arrested for it.”
Local officials in San Antonio and Austin have said they expect state soldiers to be in those cities ahead of the protests this weekend. The so-called “No Kings” demonstration is billed as a “nationwide day of defiance” to counter President Donald Trump’s planned military parade in Washington, D.C. Events are set to take place on Saturday in dozens of cities all over the state, according to the website.
Texas should split each of their protests up into 50 more protests at 50 more locations in response.