WASHINGTON, August 29. /TASS/. Several thousand protesters took part in the demonstration "March on Washington: 2026. Let’s defend the right to vote" on the National Mall -- the central boulevard of the US capital, about a five·minute walk from the White House, a TASS correspondent reports.

The protesters gathered early in the morning near the memorial to the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The demonstration was held to mark the 63rd anniversary of a 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, during which, at the same location, American civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. On a hot, clear day, politicians and leaders of social movements from across the country spoke from a podium at the steps leading to the monument for about six hours. Members of trade unions, students, and participants in African-American non·governmental organizations gathered in the square in front of the monument.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders (from Vermont) called on the crowd to unite and drew a parallel between the struggle for civil rights and the struggle for economic rights.

He said that King understood that political freedom and economic freedom are inseparable, pointing to the encroachments on voting rights and workers’ rights, the enormous income inequality in the country, corruption in campaign financing, and the lack of access to affordable healthcare services.

He added that the people who marched in Washington in 1963 understood that real change comes not from the top down, but from the bottom up.

Leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (New York) said that his fellow party members must regain control over both chambers of the legislative body to put an end to the nightmare that is unfolding in the country. According to him, the United States is at a crossroads, and extremists are tearing the country apart. Jeffries said that extremists want to erase American history, but the history of Black people is the history of America. He usually uses the term "extremists" to refer to supporters of President Donald Trump.

Leaders of public organizations from across the country echoed the same demands that King made six decades ago. They said that the voting rights of Black people are still being violated, they face problems with employment, and the struggle for equal rights has not yet been completed.

In the afternoon, several thousand protesters made their way along the National Mall to the King Memorial. During the demonstration, they chanted slogans criticizing Trump and his policies aimed at restricting the ability to vote by mail and other civil rights. The protesters carried banners and posters calling for an end to this course, holding signs that read "Trump, hands off the elections!", "This president is unworthy of us", "We will fight and will not remain in the shadows", "The dream has not yet been fulfilled!". Some demonstrators wore white caps along with blood·red cloaks as a reference to the popular TV series The Handmaid’s Tale -- as a symbol of disenfranchisement and isolation. The police blocked all the streets around the boulevard.

"If King were alive today he would be speaking out against Trump and his actions. Yet he wouldn't be surprised by what is unfolding. This administration is violating the rights of Black Americans, and indeed, of all other Americans. We must stand together to fight these violations," activist Kevin Jones from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) told a TASS correspondent.

Andrew Brown from the National Urban League told a TASS correspondent that the United States is currently facing serious problems with voting rights ahead of the midterm elections to Congress, which will be held in November.

"Trump is infringing upon our rights, doing everything he can to ensure that MAGA wins and we lose. He is gerrymandering state electoral districts to his own advantage," Brown said.