PITTSFIELD — Planned as a “No War Venezuela” protest a week ago, no one predicted that Renee Nicole Good would be shot and killed on Wednesday by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis.

Thus, a protest that would have focused on the U.S. invasion of Venezuela and capture of its president pivoted.

“Melt ICE” was a common theme among the signs many of the about 300 protesters carried on Sunday. The sun shone, warming the air as temperatures hovered in the low to mid-30s.

Hundreds of people gather at Park Square in Pittsfield joining protests across the nation against ICE following the death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week.

Good, 37, was a mother of three.

Someone taped a photo of her on the tallest monument at Park Square, just above the words inscribed in the monument: “For the Dead a Tribute, For the Living a Memory, for Posterity an Emblem of Loyalty to the Flag of their Country.”

“This is an escalation of state violence,” said Jess Dils, who was carrying a sign that read, “We had whistles. They had guns,” a statement attributed to Good’s widow. Below that quote, she wrote on her sign, “ICE Out 4 Good.”

“It’s all one and the same, the militarization and takeover abroad in Venezuela, the militarization in our own streets against our own people, our own citizens, for standing up for our neighbors and trying to protect them with our First Amendment rights,” said Dils of Williamstown. “You know we all kept hearing and saying and warning that it was going to get gong to get worse before it got better, and this is the worst. This is what we all feared.”

A steady stream of appreciative honks provided the backdrop to protest songs, including “The Tide is Rising,” by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman and Yotam Schachter; “Let it Be,” by Paul McCartney; and “All You Fascists Bound to Lose,” by Woody Guthrie. Guthrie placed the words “This machine kills fascists” on his guitar in the 1940s.

Robin O'Herin of Lee led chants at the protest she spearheaded as an organizer.

“We want to honor Renee," she told The Eagle. "We want to mourn her. We are horrified. When I say we, I mean everybody. I was devastated. It breaks my heart that our country has come to this."

Organizers prepared a list of actions people could take to fight the Trump administration.

“Don’t be quiet,” O'Herin said. “Silence is compliance. And we need to make a lot of noise. We need to call our representatives. We need to call Republican representatives. We need to tell them we’re unhappy. And they need to get a backbone and do what’s right.”

Brian Isaac of Adams was carrying a sign depicting Donald Trump with a toothbrush mustache and in a Nazi uniform.

“Our voices are very much needed for this,” Isaac said. “I’m hoping it will inspire more and more people who vote Democrat to stand up, to vote, to make their voices heard, to not sit around and wait for everything to work it out by itself.”

Deb Burns joins hundreds of people who gathered at Park Square in Pittsfield joining protests across the nation against ICE following the death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week.

Among the speakers was Eric Wasileski, a U.S. Navy veteran and a founder of the Pittsfield chapter of Veterans for Peace.

“As military veterans, we hereby affirm our cause to work for world peace,” the Pittsfield resident said. “To this end, we will work with others both nationally and internationally to increase the public awareness of the causes and costs of war. To restrain our government from intervening overtly and covertly in the internal affairs of other nations. To resist racism and repression in our home communities. To oppose militarization of law enforcement. To end the arms race and reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons. To seek justice for veterans and victims of war. To abolish war as an instrument of national policy. To promote a sustainable and peaceful world.”

Wasileski then played a prayer drum from Japan. He invited those who knew the accompanying chant to join him.

Hundreds of people gather at Park Square in Pittsfield joining protests across the nation against ICE following the death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week.

Clarisse Kilayko of Williamstown came to the protest with her daughter, Nadine, who is 10.

“I’m an immigrant so all of this hits very close to home for me,’ said Kilayko, who was born in the Philippines. “I’ve always felt welcome in this country until recently. And even though we all come for the same reason — we all come for a better life for us and our families — I feel very strongly that the people who come across the border here, they’re all just trying their best to have a better life.

Hundreds of people gather at Park Square in Pittsfield joining protests across the nation against ICE following the death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week.

“For many who have built their lives here for many years, I think it’s not fair to just kick them out just because. It’s also I think hypocrisy to depend on immigrants for running our businesses, for being health care workers, all these things that we do for our country, and then to say all of a sudden, ‘No, we don’t need you anymore.'"