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Trump Supporters Hold ‘Patriots’ Rose Parade’

Hundreds of motorists follow Rose Parade route to protest presidential election results, business shutdowns

Published on Saturday, January 2, 2021 | 6:00 am
 

A massive caravan of as many as 1,000 vehicles filled with Trump supporters moved along Colorado Boulevard for hours Friday afternoon in what was billed as  the “Patriots’ Rose Parade.”

The route, unused for the actual Rose Parade canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, was lined for blocks by cars and trucks festooned with flags and slogans, honking and blaring sirens. Drivers shouted slogans through bullhorns at the few pedestrians walking along mostly empty sidewalks.

According to event organizers, the participants came from throughout California, including some from as far away as San Diego and Sacramento.

The caravan followed the traditional route of the Rose Parade, beginning at Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevard and proceeding along the 4.5-mile route to Sierra Madre Boulevard, before circling back.

Parade “provider” Dave Joson told Pasadena Now on Thursday that the participants were demonstrating against the official results of the presidential election, along with a protest against Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders to shut down restaurants and small businesses in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“They didn’t go by the rules. They didn’t follow the state constitutions to change the rules on mail-in ballots and all these things,” Joson said. “So there’s a twofold amount of people that are trying to change this and are using the Rose Parade as the crutch [sic] of this because that was a hundred year tradition. That was like the straw that broke the camel’s back at this point, because people have said ‘We’re done with this.’”

Joson called Newsom’s health orders “illegal.”

And just one day after Pasadena suffered its highest number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths in the history of the pandemic, most of the caravan participants did not wear masks, and there was little social distancing among the participants.

Joson said Thursday that masking and social distancing was “really up to the individual. We are not forcing anyone to do anything they don’t want to do.”

The approximately two-hour noisy but peaceful caravan rolled east on  Colorado Boulevard, slowing motorist traffic, alongside mostly empty streets and sidewalks.

Some motorists were forced to exit Colorado, while at least one pedestrian taunted the parade participants while videotaping them on his cell phone.

By 4 p.m. Saturday, as the caravan wrapped up, there were no reported collisions or incidents requiring police intervention during the event, according to Pasadena Police.

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