Protesters gather in Salt Lake City

Walkouts and events were planned from northern Utah to St. George.

Note to readers • This story is developing and being updated. Watch sltrib.com for additional coverage of shutdown events.

Utahns gathered at City Hall and marched in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon as part of a “National Shutdown” aimed at protesting President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

In cities across the state, business owners have closed their doors and students have walked out of classes in support of the national effort. Events on Friday and Saturday were also planned in Utah cities that include Ogden, Logan, Price and St. George.

In Salt Lake City’s downtown, more than a thousand protesters packed into Washington Square before the march began. Together, they held signs and shouted chants including, “Power to the people, no one is illegal,” and, “No justice, no peace, we want ICE off our streets.”

Passing cars honked their horns. A banner hanging from City Hall read “SLC [loves] YOU.” Community members handed out hand warmers, freshly baked cookies and free coffee.

The national action was planned to protest the actions of agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The agencies’ agents killed Silverio Villegas González in a Chicago suburb in September, Keith “Pooter” Porter Jr. in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve, and Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than a month apart in Minneapolis.

A nurse at the Salt Lake City protest held a sign that read: “Nurses for Alex Pretti.”

The Trump administration has said that its immigration policies make the country safer. The operations have “resulted in countless dangerous criminal illegals being removed from the streets — including rapists, murderers, burglars, drunk drivers,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement earlier this week.

Sue Widdison joined Friday’s protest from Millcreek and mused that recent events have seemed relentless.

“A sign that I saw last year said, ‘Too much s— for one sign,’” she said. “And it really feels like that because you get your sign made, you get up in the morning and it’s totally outdated. Something else has happened.”

Utah groups listed as supporters on the national organizing site included the Salt Lake Community Bail Fund, Peoples’ Freedom Party Utah, Organization of Utahn Young Adult Activists and the Utah Valley University Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers/American Association of University Professors.

Protester Autumn Blaustein-Olfen said “something has to be done.” She said she hopes politicians will “think, ‘wow, okay, they want us to put a stop to what ICE is doing to immigrants,’” and that “what people will take away is that, yes, we should help and get out there, because there’s enough people doing it now, that there’s no reason to hide.”

Randi Hardy spoke from inside a pink blow-up axolotl costume and waved at cars as they passed on State Street.

Condensation collected in the small window that showed her face, but it was important to her to dress this way. She said she wore the costume for “visibility” and to show onlookers that protesters aren’t scary or “out of control.”

”I think we need to stop killing people in the streets. The federal government needs to be held accountable to what they’re doing,” she said, “and the camaraderie in the community that we have here is amazing.”

Protesters in Utah’s capital began marching at about 3:15 p.m. toward the local field office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services along 200 East, between 600 South and 700 South.

From there, demonstrators marched to 700 South before turning on State Street and heading back to Washington Square Park. The crowd began dispersing shortly before 4:30 p.m.

In St. George Friday, around 40 people gathered downtown on the corner of Main Street and St. George Boulevard to protest ICE. Drivers honked their horns as they passed, and the occasional driver yelled “go back to California” out their window.

Attendees ranged from local retirees to tourists taking time out of their vacation to protest. They held signs that said, “ICE out” and “The wrong ice is melting” while wearing shorts and T-shirts on a warm southwest Utah day.

Marie Straka was visiting from Minnesota, a state that has been a focal point of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. “I was involved in protesting at home in Minnesota,” she said. “It’s a lot easier here.”

She showed up to protest during her vacation because she wants immigrants to be protected, she added.

Peter Dowdle, a student at Southern Utah University, drove down to St. George for the protest from Cedar City.

“Letting people in communities like this know that they’re not alone in their dislike of what the government is doing right now, I think that is the best support I can do from some random rural town in Utah,” he said.

— This is a developing story. Check back for updates.