Ybor City’s antifascist history came back to life in May when a few dozen activists walked to recreate a 1937 march where more than 5,000 women went from the district to downtown in protest of spreading fascism and inequity. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa
Community members gathered outside Bradley’s on 7th in Ybor City on Nov. 9 to mourn the four lives lost when a high-speed chase ended with a car crashing into a popular LGBTQ nightclub. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Kevin and Laura Blankenship pose for a portrait at a Charlie Kirk vigil in Dunedin. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Terry Turnblom positions himself on a cross at a Charlie Kirk vigil in Dunedin. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Stratton Pollitzer, co-founder and deputy director of Equality Florida, at the state capitol in Tallahassee on March 19, 2025. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Temple Terrace rallying to “Stop Starving Gaza Now” Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters in Temple Terrace rallying to “Stop Starving Gaza Now” Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
GloRilla performing in Tampa for a NCAA Women’s Final Four celebration. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay metal supergroup Heaven’s Gate unleashes ‘Tales From a Blistering Paradise’ in St. Petersburg. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
A protester at a “Mexicans Ain’t Going Anywhere” rally in Lakeland Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Activists against ICE raids at a June protest in Tampa. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Pro-Iranian and anti-Israel protestors gathered on the day after the United States bombed three nuclear facilities in the heart of Iran to protest the policies of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
A coalition of anti-ICE activists, social liberation groups and immigrants rights groups hold a vigil at the Krome Detention Facility to raise awareness to the undocumented migrants whom have been detained by the Department of Homeland Security – some with and some with out due process. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
A protester being arrested with a group of veterans blocking the entrance to MacDill Air Force Base. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Drag queen Adriana Sparkle at St. Pete Pride’s Sunday street festival in June. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Inter Miami CF at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 14, 2025. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
My Chemical Romance playing Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in September. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
In Tampa, activists commemorate 77th anniversary of the Nakba Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
In Tampa, activists commemorate 77th anniversary of the Nakba Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Protesters at a No Kings rally in Tampa in June. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
MAGA counter-protesters at a No Kings rally in Tampa in June. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
A protester at a Wimaua rally to support immigrants Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
The anonymously repainted Black History Matters mural outside the Woodson African American Museum. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Florida Highway Patrol officers with the and Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputies detain and arrest protestors as members of the Sunrise Movement engage in civil disobedience at the entrance of the Krome North Service Processing Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Miami-Dade County, Florida and temporarily halt operations at the facility. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
WWE legend Titus O’Neil at preperations for his 8th annual Back to School Bash. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
In the hours leading up to the president’s March address to a joint session of congress, protesters on Tampa streets called for change and held signs calling Donald Trump “Putin’s Bitch.” Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Denis Phillips at WFTS in Tampa, Florida on July 25, 2025. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Reversal of Man playing in Ybor City. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Former American Idol stor and right wing influencer, Jimmy Levy wears a cape in protest at the removal of the Epstein at Turning Point USA’s ‘Student Action Summit’ Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson speak to a group of 300 MAGA supporters at Turning Point USA’s ‘Student Action Summit’ in July—two months before Kirk’s assassination. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Betty Osceloa speaks to a crowd of protestors as law enforcement conducts security checks on vehicles entering the site of the construction of a 450 million dollar, migrant detention center build out of soft sided holding units known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ as named by Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Wu-Tang Clan played its last show in Tampa in June. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

Below are more of Dave’s best shots of the year from protests he covered across the country.

A coalition of Proud Boy groups march through the streets of Washington DC in support of Donald J Trump on the day of his Inaugeration. Credit: Dave Decker
Militarized agents for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) aka ICE lock a gate and move in with force to quell protestors as the Broadview facility’s role has changed dramatically with the start of ‘OPERATION MIDWAY BLITZ’ which is the central processing facility for the operation and is scheduled to operate for 7 days a week for 45 days. Credit: Dave Decker
Militarized ICE unload and process detainees as the Broadview facility’s role has changed dramatically with the start of ‘OPERATION MIDWAY BLITZ’ which is the central processing facility for the operation and is scheduled to operate for 7 days a week for 45 days. Credit: Dave Decker
Chief Patrol Agent GREG BOVINO and militarized agents for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) aka ICE move in with force to quell protestors and make arrests as the Broadview facility’s role has changed dramatically with the start of ‘OPERATION MIDWAY BLITZ’ which is the central processing facility for the operation and is scheduled to operate for 7 days a week for 45 days. Credit: Dave Decker
Customs and Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino enters a transport vehicle in the city of Kenner – Located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Credit: Dave Decker

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Selene San Felice is managing editor of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Prior to joining CL in 2025, she started the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter and worked for her hometown paper, The Capital in Annapolis,...

Dave Decker is a songwriter and photographer living in Tampa Bay.