File Photo: People take part in the "Families Belong Together" protest in San Diego, the United States, on June 23, 2018. Thousands of people marched in protest in the U.S.-Mexico border city of San Diego, raising slogans against the Trump administration's policy of separating children from immigrant parents. (Xinhua/Gao Shan)
SAN FRANCISCO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- A group of rights activists turned their back on U.S. National Day celebrations Wednesday to camp out at the headquarters of U.S. immigration office in San Francisco to oppose President Donald Trump's immigration policy.
The protesters brought their tents and bottled water to encamp in front of the San Francisco headquarters of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an "Occupy ICE" movement that continued on Fourth of July Independence Day, when tens of thousands of their American peers were celebrating the national day.
They took over the sidewalk and one lane of Washington Street in downtown San Francisco.
The demonstrators were calling for "ICE Abolition" to end the "family separation" immigration policy pursued by the Trump administration.
Organizers of the event called it a celebration of resistance as they staged the "Block ICE" Block Party in downtown San Francisco for the third day of their movement.
The protesters said they wouldn't celebrate while many of their peers are detained at detention centers.
In Sacramento, California, about 120 km northeast of San Francisco, demonstrators also rallied outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building Wednesday.
"Everybody celebrates Independence Day, but in reality, what independence can you all celebrate?" one protester told local Kron4 TV channel.