Anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ Protests Draw Thousands in U.S.

As Washington, D.C. prepares for Donald Trump’s military birthday parade, ostensibly in honor of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, people in 2,000 locations across the country gathered for “No Kings Day” countering the president’s celebration. 

The protests come after Trump, who turned 79 on Saturday, deployed the National Guard and the Marines this past week during protests in Los Angeles opposing aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Law enforcement have used non-lethal weapons on protesters and journalists covering the protests against ICE. That did not stop the “No Kings” protests on Saturday, though, as 20,000 people gathered in the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Some protesters held a giant balloon, à la Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, of Trump in a diaper.

“In the context of [Trump’s] escalation in L.A., it takes on greater import,” Ezra Levin, a cofounder of the progressive grassroots giant Indivisible, told Rolling Stone earlier this week about the protests. “You need to have a visible demonstration that Americans are against authoritarian overreach.”

At Ocean Beach in San Francisco, hundreds of protesters arranged themselves to spell “No King!” when viewed from above. Underneath, people held up an upside-down American flag. 

Protesters shared a range of messages, but they all had concern about the Trump administration.

“The way the separation of powers is breaking down is very alarming,” Betsy Williams told The Gainesville Sun at a protest in Gainesville, Florida. “If they can deport someone for not carrying a passport on the streets,” that means they can do anything to anyone, Williams said.

“This is what America looks like — not like some militarized birthday party that Donald Trump threw for himself a taxpayer expense,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who spoke at the Philadelphia protest, told CNN.

Martin Luther King III, the civil rights leader’s son, attended the Philadelphia protest as well. “It’s the energy that hopefully is infectious and contagious, because we as a society must stop turning on each other,” he told CNN. “We must turn to each other.”

There were not any official “No Kings” events planned for Washington, D.C., but anti-war group CODEPINK held a protest at the military parade. 

The “No Kings” protests saw little intervention from police. One exception was in Atlanta, where law enforcement used tear gas as they yelled “unlawful assembly” and “you must disperse” at protesters who were headed toward the highway, the Associated Press reported. A photo shows armored law enforcement with shields standing at an intersection next to a Kroger grocery store and Planet Fitness. The outlet also reported that a journalist was seen being detained. 

The protests in Minnesota were canceled after a politically motivated gunman killed Minnesota Democratic Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in their home Saturday. The gunman also shot Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, multiple times. Law enforcement said the suspect is Vance Boelter, who works for a security company, according to CNN. He remains at large.

“Out of an abundance of caution my Department of Public Safety is recommending that people do not attend any political rallies today in Minnesota until the suspect is apprehended,” Gov. Tim Walz posted on X. 

In Austin, the Texas Department of Public Safety evacuated the state Capitol and Capitol grounds after a person made a “credible threat” toward Texas state legislators who planned to attend a protest against Trump, CNN reported. 

In Nashville, police arrested a masked counter-protester carrying a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag who appeared to be armed. The protest was otherwise peaceful.

“Everybody else is being chill,” Kase Cosgrove, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and safety volunteer, told The Tennessee Lookout. “He was trying to cause problems.”