University of Kwazulu-Natal

Millions Turn Out Nationwide For No Kings Protests Against Trump

Bonisiwe Shabane
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millions turn out nationwide for no kings protests against trump

Protesters held rallies across the country opposing Trump’s agenda on the day of the president’s military parade. They cap a week of demonstrations against immigration raids that began in Los Angeles and spread nationwide. Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ protests were organized by a coalition of groups. John Yang speaks with Lisa Gilbert, the co-president of one of them, Public Citizen. Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

There have been rallies across the country opposing President Trump's agenda on the day of the president's military parade. They cap a week of demonstrations against immigration raids that began in Los Angeles and spread nationwide. Today's events in about 2,000 cities and towns were organized by the no Kings movement, which calls the administration's actions authoritarian. There were rallies near Mr. Trump's Mar a Lago residence in West Palm Beach, Florida. In Boston, where it was raining in Atlanta, with Proud Boy counter protesters looking on.

And in Philadelphia, the flagship No Kings rally. Local officials urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully and avoid blocking roads. Huge crowds took part in "No Kings" protests against President Donald Trump's policies in cities across the US on Saturday, including New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. Thousands packed New York City's iconic Times Square and streets all around, with people holding signs with slogans like "Democracy not Monarchy" and "The Constitution is not optional". Ahead of the demonstrations, Trump allies accused the protesters of being linked with the far-left Antifa movement, and condemned what they called "the hate America rally". Several US states had mobilised the National Guard.

But organisers said the events, which drew nearly seven million people, were peaceful. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has expanded the scope of presidential power, using executive orders to dismantle parts of the federal government and to deploy National Guard troops to US... Millions of Americans took to the streets on Saturday in nationwide mass protests against what they perceive to be rising authoritarianism and corruption under President Donald Trump. More than 2,700 “No Kings” rallies were due to be held in all 50 states in what is thought to be the largest mobilization against the Trump Administration over the president's two terms. Organizers estimated some 7 million people protested across the country in suburbs, towns and most major cities. Huge crowds were reported in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston.

Protests were also seen in deep red states—in Birmingham, Alabama and Billings, Montana. Some experts have speculated that the demonstrations could be the largest in modern U.S. history. “Today, millions of Americans stood together to reject authoritarianism and remind the world that our democracy belongs to the people, not to one man’s ambition,” Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, co-founders of Indivisible, which... The protests come in response to an unprecedented use of presidential power by Trump in his second term. Since January, Trump has ordered the National Guard into Democratic-run cities to quell protests and aid in immigration enforcement, launched a crackdown on left-wing and liberal groups, and implemented a sweeping mass deportation program...

To celebrate her 70th birthday, retired government worker Peggy Cole says she and a friend drove nearly 10 hours from her hometown of Flint, Michigan, to join a protest in Washington, DC, on Saturday. Cole said she felt compelled to mark the milestone at the large demonstration because it’s a “scary time” for Americans and democracy is at stake. “It seems to me, (Trump is) taking our government, our democracy, and dismantling it piece by piece, slowly, but surely, if we sit by and don’t do anything about it,” Cole said. The event was one of more than 2,700 “No Kings” rallies held across the country on Saturday, protesting what organizers describe as President Donald Trump’s “authoritarian” agenda. That’s hundreds more events than were planned for the first go-round in June, when about 5 million people across the country took to the streets to protest Trump’s administration as he held a military... Nearly 7 million people showed up for Saturday’s rallies – including more than 100,000 people in New York, organizers and officials said.

Along with larger events in major cities, small pockets of “No Kings” protesters cropped up along busy thoroughfares, in small town squares and at municipal parks in red and blue states alike. Millions of people turned out nationwide on Oct. 18 to protest actions by the Trump administration and celebrate their Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly. The crowds at an estimated 2,700 rallies across the country included older Americans who protested Vietnam or never protested anything before, veterans who said they didn't fight for a country led by a dictator,... Many said they were upset by the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants and other vulnerable populations. If crowd estimates hold, the one-day "No Kings" event was the largest civil action in the United States since the first Earth Day, 55 years ago.

No major incidents or arrests were reported during the day. Republican leaders spoke out ahead of the Saturday protests, blaming them for the current government shutdown and labeling them "hate America" rallies. In Cathedral City, California, protesters waved handmade signs and one carried a Trump-lookalike mannequin. In Fort Collins, Colorado, one man brought his horse to the protest. Several protesters in Fort Myers, Florida, were seen wearing inflatable costumes, as they lined the side of a highway. Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and communities across the U.S.

for “ No Kings ” demonstrations that the president’s Republican Party disparaged as “Hate America” rallies. (AP video by Mike Pesoli) Several hundred people, mostly American expatriates, gathered in Paris and Madrid on Saturday in support of the ‘No King’ day movement that is expected to draw large crowds in the U.S. against President Donald Trump’s policies. (AP video by Alexander Turnbull and Iain Sullivan) People are signing a giant Constitution as they take part in a “No Kings” protest Saturday, Oct.

18, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) Crowds gather to listen to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during a No Kings protest, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Demonstrators wearing inflatable bald eagle costumes gather in Kiener Plaza during the “No Kings” protest in St. Louis, with the Gateway Arch in the background, on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) Demonstrators take part in a protest against the Trump administration during the No Kings national rally in downtown Los Angeles on June 14, the same day as President Trump's military parade in Washington, D.C.

Ringo Chiu/AFP via Getty Images hide caption Organizers of the No Kings protests are projecting that millions of Americans will demonstrate against the policies of the Trump administration on Saturday, amid ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and the deployment of... "The purpose here is to stand in solidarity, to organize, to defend our democracy and protect each other and our communities, and just say enough is enough," said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen,... "We've been watching the Trump administration's abuses of power, and millions took to the streets in June," she said. Some Republicans have decried the protests as anti-American. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a "hate America rally."

There were no reports of violence or arrests at the rallies Activists and advocacy groups staged a second round of "No Kings" protests across the country on Saturday in response to what they call abuse of power by President Donald Trump and his administration, including... Photos and videos of events from Boston to Los Angeles showed huge crowds of demonstrators carrying signs protesting the administration's policies such as mass deportations. Republicans contended the protests were "hate America" rallies and claimed they're prolonging the federal government shutdown. There were no immediate reports of violent incidents or arrests, according to local police departments.

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