The Sundance Film Festival has long been the backdrop for some of the most significant demonstrations in Park City’s modern era, as people pressing a variety of causes opt for the spotlight the festival provides.
A march on Main Street in support of Palestinians on Sunday was the most recent of the demonstrations, drawing up to 200 people, according to the Park City Police Department.
Notable demonstrations previously during Sundance, listed chronologically from the most recent, include:
- The Women’s March on Main, 2017. The demonstration was, by a wide margin, the largest, drawing up to 9,000 people to Main Street and lower Swede Alley. The Women’s March on Main spotlighted a range of causes of the political left. It was not meant as a protest to the inauguration of Donald Trump as the president the day before, but many of the marchers expressed displeasure with the new president.
- The Occupy Wall Street movement, 2012. A small group rallied at the Wells Fargo bank branch on Kearns Boulevard. Some of the demonstrators stormed into the lobby chanting and dancing before police officers almost immediately ordered them out. Between 30 and 40 people supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement held a demonstration on Main Street earlier during Sundance.
- Westboro Baptist Church, 2011. The conservative church stationed several people outside a Sundance film depicting a fictional congregation that resembled the Kansas church. Approximately 200 students from Park City High School staged a demonstration to counter the Westboro Baptist Church presence, overwhelming the small number of people from the church.
- The gay rights movement, 2010. There were approximately 30 demonstrators outside a Sundance screening displeased with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ position on gay marriage.
- The animal rights movement, 2009. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals held a small demonstration on Main Street. The demonstrators argued primates should not be used in films. A person dressed in a gorilla suit threw a banana peel on the sidewalk repeatedly as passers-by watched. Animal rights activists have held several demonstrations during Sundance.