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Protesters gather outside Trump hotel in New York over emergency declaration

Screenshot/ABC 7 NY

Demonstrators gathered Friday night outside the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York to protest President Trump’s national emergency declaration.

A local ABC affiliate streamed the protests live, showing dozens of people sitting in the street and blocking traffic outside the hotel. 

In the video, the protesters can be heard chanting “shame” and “this emergency is fake” as New York Police Department [NYPD] officers stand nearby. Some protesters are seen wearing “abolish ICE” vests, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and carrying “No Wall No Way” signs. {mosads}

According to ABC7 New York, about a dozen protesters were arrested peacefully, though the official number of arrests was not immediately made clear.

The Hill has reached out to the NYPD for comment. 

The protest comes after Trump declared a national emergency on Friday to circumvent Congress and secure as much as $8 billion in funds for his proposed border wall with Mexico.

Trump had demanded $5.7 billion in funding for the 234 miles of wall, but lawmaker’s agreed on a government funding deal that offered far less for border security. 

The decision has been criticized by lawmakers and other figures on both sides of the aisle. Democratic leaders blasted the decision as “unlawful” and called it “a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process.”

Conservatives groups also expressed disappointment with the decision, saying it “will create a dangerous precedent” and warning that Democrats could similarly use such powers to declare emergencies on climate change or other progressive issues. 

Tags Donald Trump

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