In line with similar rallies happening across the country on Saturday, activists in San Diego took to the streets for the Tax March, a protest demanding that President Donald Trump release his tax returns.
The local march began at 10 a.m. at the County Administration Center on Pacific Highway in downtown San Diego as demonstrators made their way on Harbor Drive, through downtown before ending at the San Diego Concourse on C Street.
Many demonstrators held signs, some bearing slogans such as “What’s he hiding?” and “Surrender Your Returns.”
For Pat Littel and her 97-year-old mother, was their first ever political protest.
Demonstrators in #SanDiego demanding @POTUS release his taxes #TaxMarch #taxday pic.twitter.com/951oXGhxEQ
— Ramon Galindo (@RamonGalindoNBC) April 15, 2017
"I think transparency in government should start at the top and President Trump is setting a very poor example," she told NBC 7. "It’s supposed to be government for the people by the people, not by the elite, for the elite, so I think that’s why we’re all here."
Ramona resident Elizabeth Mosser echoed Littell’s concerns about transparency in the White House.
“I don’t know why Mr. Trump isn’t showing his taxes. Evidently, he has something to hide,” said Mosser. “I myself have never been involved in political activism, but this just affects so many people and so many issues, issues that we need to approach and make sure our voices are heard."
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“People are looking for the same thing: open government,” added demonstrator Steve Atkins.
During the march in San Diego, a man with a Trump campaign flag mounted to his pickup truck drove by the demonstration to show his support for the president.
Nationwide, Democratic lawmakers and activists hit the streets for this same march, using Tax Day to put pressure on Trump to release his returns, as his recent predecessors have done.
Tax March events were scheduled in nearly 150 cities.
Over the past 40 years, presidents and major party nominees – with the exception of Gerald Ford – have publicly released some of their tax returns.
Those who want Trump to release his returns are concerned about possible conflicts of interest on the documents belonging to the business mogul-turned-Commander-in-Chief. Many have signed an online petition calling on Trump to release the returns.
The POTUS has said an audit is the reason that he won’t release his tax returns. Earlier this year, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump stated that “People didn’t care” about the president's tax returns.
Another Tax March also took place in Escondido Saturday, at Westfield North County Mall in north San Diego County.
