Anti-Trump protests block I-80 in Iowa City

(KCRG)
Published: Nov. 11, 2016 at 3:36 PM CST
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UPDATE: Protesters angry with the election of Donald Trump blocked Interstate 80 Friday evening.

The protests started with students from Iowa City West and City High Schools walking out of class and rallying downtown. College students and other protesters soon joined in. The protesters then marched down Dubuque Street and out to Interstate 80.

Those protesters flooded onto Interstate 80 east, bringing rush hour traffic to a halt. Additional police arrived after about 10 minutes and broke up the protest. It is unclear if any protesters were arrested.

During the protest, traffic on Interstate 80 and Dubuque Street backed up for miles.

Protester Kaydee Ecker says it's a scary time and they were out voicing their opinions.

"'it's a little dangerous but it's what you gotta do to get your voice out there and make a statement because otherwise people aren't going to listen. It's one thing to march around downtown and block off a little bit of traffic , it's another thing to block off a major highway," Ecker said.

One woman wants to remain anonymous but was driving one of the cars blocked in front.

'It was scary because I don't know how I stopped that fast but it was like within a few feet of these people just came out and there were three lanes of traffic they all got stopped evidently," she said.

Iowa City police and state troopers were on the scene. Protesters left after about 20 minutes, but said they would be back.

Iowa City police said they made no arrests and no one was injured.

ORIGINAL: Students at Iowa City's two high schools walked out of class Friday and marched to protest the election of Donald Trump as president.

Students at both City High and West High left class around 2:15 pm Friday and marched to the Pentacrest on the University of Iowa campus. Several students shared pictures, videos or live streamed the march.