Protesters crowded outside Edmond Town Hall for Rock This Democracy’s “Free America Walkout” on Tuesday, January 20.

People from Newtown, along with those from surrounding towns and cities, bundled up Tuesday afternoon to circle the sidewalk in front of Edmond Town Hall.

Rock This Democracy organizer Alex Villamil said there were around 250 protesters in attendance.

There were no speakers at the walkout, unlike the local grassroots organization’s previous events. Instead, people held signs, rang cowbells, and chanted phrases such as “this is what democracy looks like” as they circled the sidewalk. Some cars and trucks honked in solidarity as they passed by.

The local protest was one of many “Free America Walkout” events held across the nation that day, which marked the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, according to news outlets such as Time magazine, ABC, and Fox News.

“Free America Walkout” is a protest initiative organized by groups such as the Women’s March and the 50501 movement. The goal of the walkout was to “organize across workplaces and communities, and build the muscle for non-compliance and action-based resistance,” according to the initiative’s website, Free America.

“We will walk out of work, school, and commerce. We will withhold our labor, our participation, and our consent,” the website states. “A free America begins the moment we refuse to cooperate ... This is a protest and a promise. In the face of fascism, we will be ungovernable.”

For the Newtown protest, Villamil said they encouraged people to bring their voices and “peacefully gather against the undemocratic abuses of our current government.”

“We’re here in the freezing cold because it’s important to us,” Villamil said Tuesday afternoon. “There’s no real alternative. The alternative is to not speak out and give in to tyranny.”

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.