Minneapolis citizens, businesses, and unions are calling for a general strike this Friday on Jan. 23 amid the Nationwide shut it down protests.

The local Party for Socialism and Liberation is encouraging Tucsonans to participate in the strike in solidarity of Minneapolis.

The national strike is meant to shut down the economy nationwide by boycotting work, school and shopping,  according to The Party for Socialism and Liberation. 

In Tucson there will also be a “Night of solidarity and Discussion” at 7 p.m. on 225 E. 26th St.

“We are hoping that the strike in Minneapolis will ignite a mass movement around the country that shows us what’s possible,” said Aurora Ramirez ,36, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. 

The call for a general strike comes just days after hundreds of Tucsonans crowded the streets of downtown Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s second presidential term. 

Carrying signs that said “Abolish ICE” and “Keep authoritarianism off our sacred lands,” protestors yelled, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.” 

Nearby, residents of an apartment building waved their fists and scarfs through their windows in support of the demonstrators. 

The Party for Socialism and Liberation planned the protest in collaboration with local activist groups Defend Tucson Coalition, Worker Power and Veterans for Peace. 

“Each organization was tasked with creating a flyer, posting it online and doing outreach so that we could reach as many people as possible,” Ramirez said.

The protest was a reaction against the Trump administration and ramped up immigration policies that have targeted communities in Tucson and across the U.S. 

“We refuse to allow ICE and the military to be weaponized against our people at home and abroad,” The Party for Socialism and Liberation National wrote in a post about the protest on its Instagram account. 

People from all around the U.S participated in the Walkout with many Instagram reels of protests from places like California, Minnesota, New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and more. 

In Tucson, community members marched east from the Tucson Federal Building down Broadway Boulevard, circling back on Congress Street.

 Back at the Federal Building, guest speakers from the Defend Tucson Coalition talked about the current political moment and called for systems that do not support the working class and international relations to be “shut down.”.

“We had planned for four guest speakers, but we ended up having more because so many people in the coalition showed up and we had seven speakers,” Ramirez said.

She wanted everyone to feel represented and for the community to hear a message of solidarity throughout the event, she said. 

“The goal of the protest is to demonstrate the people’s power, inspire people to join the movement to change the system and to ensure that Trump knows we are not going to passively let him enrich himself while making life harder for us,” she said.

Pueblo High School students were also among those to join the nationwide walkout. They left campus Tuesday carrying signs with messages like “Education not deportation” and yelling “No more ICE” to amplify their message. 

Senior Camila Martinez,18, is the secretary of Pueblo MEChA, a student-led group focused on social justice and community outreach that organized the walkout. She said the group’s Instagram post encouraging student participation spread fast.

“We saw [University High School] organize, and we thought we should do this too, Pueblo is a very culturally mixed school and it just made a lot of sense,” she said.

“We don’t want ICE in Tucson or anywhere in the U.S because they are a threat to democracy,” added MeChA co-chair Luciana Reyes, 16. “We are here to stand up for the people that are vulnerable right now, our immigrant communities.”

Co-chair Raul Gomez Grijalva,17, son of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, said he joined the protest because his family raised him to speak up for vulnerable members of the community.

“I’m just very grateful to be a part of such an accepted Chicano community,” he said.

School administrators passed out water bottles through the school gates.  Martinez said the students felt supported by their teachers, even though they can’t participate directly in the walkout. 

“They’re helping out as much as they can,” she said.

Tuesday’s protest may be one of many to come as the current administration continues to ramp up immigration raids and other policies that impact local communities, leaders in Tucson said.

“We have to work together. We have to organize to demand that people’s needs are met. And we can only do that if we show up,” Ramirez said.

Organizers said the general strike will be Friday, Jan. 23 with people across the U.S expected to refrain from spending money in order to achieve the economic shutdown.

For more information about the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s discussion and solidarity event on Friday, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. in Tucson, visit their Instagram.

Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.