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Tag: No Kings

  • 2025 Year in Review: 10 ways the City Beautiful stood up this year

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    A No Kings protest in Orlando, 2025 Credit: Matt Keller Lehman

    Amid a year filled with the chaos filtering down from the White House and our state government, Orlando once again proved that it’s possible to stand up, show up and send a message. Locals this year protested against fascism, organized to provide transparency for family members of those detained by ICE, and donated to food banks and other organizations this year to help those in need during the 43-day federal government shutdown.

    This is the energy we love to see in our friends and neighbors. Here’s to a lot more of it in 2026.

    Protesting the Trump administration under the slogan of ‘No Kings’
    Millions of Americans nationwide, including thousands in Central Florida, rallied against the Trump administration this year at sporadic “No Kings” protests organized by local activists fed up with the administration’s policies and funding cuts. Our reporter and photojournalist contributors documented Orlandoans who showed up across racial and generational lines, protesting proposed cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP, as well as the Trump administration’s immigration policy, billionaire Elon Musk’s ketamine-inspired “Department of Government Efficiency” and the generally hateful rhetoric coming from the White House. Several rallies were organized over the year at Orlando City Hall, but don’t worry, Kissimmee, we saw you, too.

    Protesting Trump’s immigrant crackdown in Waterford Lakes
    Nearly 200 Orlando residents came together near the Waterford Lakes Town Center over the first weekend of February to raise their voices loud and clear against policy decisions by Donald Trump, Stephen Miller and Elon Musk — particularly against immigration crackdowns and mass deportations. Protesters held signs with messages such as “U.S. Means All of Us,” “Hate never made America great,” and “I DRINK MY HORCHATA WARM BC FUCK ICE.”

    Rallying against the state’s erasure of Pulse’s rainbow-colored sidewalk
    Despite funding a paint job for it last year, the state Department of Transportation decided this year that the rainbow-colored crosswalk outside the former Pulse nightclub was too woke and painted over it in the dead of night. And Orlando wasn’t having it. After all, the rainbow colors were installed to honor the 49 people killed during a mass shooting at Pulse in 2016, and served as sort of a makeshift memorial while the OnePulse Foundation stumbled around for years not building one. Local officials said it served as a roadway safety strategy, too. Many community members here saw the state’s paint job as a targeted insult to the LGBTQ community — not the first we’ve seen, and it’s unlikely to be the last.

    Donating to food banks to help local families in need
    Protest actions aren’t the only way that Orlandoans stood up this year. Orlando also showed up by donating to food banks like Second Harvest and to the airport as thousands of federal workers in Central Florida were either furloughed during the government shutdown or forced to work without pay. 

    Standing up for immigrants detained in the county jail
    Dozens of civil rights, legal and labor groups organized a coalition this year to call on Orange County leaders to ensure greater transparency for families of individuals arrested and detained by ICE agents on federal immigration holds. In response, the county directed Orange County Corrections to make it easier for families to identify family members held in the local jail, which  has doubled as a temporary holding center for ICE detainees. Advocates regularly showed up to county commission meetings this year to keep the pressure on and organized press conferences to raise public awareness through media outlets (like Orlando Weekly), too. 

    Standing in solidarity with striking Starbucks workers
    As workers at a unionized Starbucks location in Oviedo joined a national strike against Starbucks this month, within the first week baristas began to see community members from groups like Central Florida Jobs With Justice and the Democratic Socialists of America show up on the picket line to support them, in addition to several candidates running for elected office (and, eventually, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost). Workers at the Oviedo store first voted to unionize in 2022 and have been fighting through their union — Starbucks Workers United — to negotiate a first contract with Starbucks that would cover them and more than 11,000 other Starbucks workers across more than 550 locations who are also unionized. Florida isn’t a state that’s known for being particularly friendly to unions. But unionized baristas locally have told our staff reporter they see their fight as one not just to benefit their own working conditions and livelihoods, but that of future generations.

    Orlando punks raised funds for Palestinian relief the DIY way
    Local DIY venue The S.P.O.T. (RIP) held a Palestine benefit this past February, hosting not just bands but food, clothing and jewelry vendors and a CFL Queers for Palestine booth for information on how to help locally. The lineup for the night comprised nine hardcore and punk bands from all around Florida: Right Effort, Andwhentheskywasopened, Noheartleft, AI Death Calculator, Unregistered Weapon, Bonus, Flowers for Emily, Gravess and Watts. Each band that night had a few words to say regarding Palestine and colonization, often taking the opportunity to remind the crowd of the roots of punk in its resistance to genocide. All told, the gig organizers managed to raise $3,020.68 in donations to be sent directly to Healing Our Homeland, a grassroots women-led organization that has been providing aid and resources to Palestinians since 2016.

    Postal service workers stood up against privatization
    The threat of privatization isn’t new for U.S. Postal Service workers — or the Department of Veterans Affairs, while we’re at it — but under Trump’s second term in the White House, the chance that threat could become reality has felt closer than ever. At least that’s what we heard from postal workers in Central Florida who believe USPS should remain a public service focused on serving communities indiscriminately, not padding the pockets of billionaires. Postal workers in Central Florida and across the country organized rallies this spring to say “HELL NO!” to privatizing America’s mail delivery. 

    Advocates called on Disney to investigate alleged use of low-wage prison labor to fold Disney balloons
    Local members of Central Florida Jobs With Justice stood side by side with formerly incarcerated workers outside Disney World this fall, calling on Disney to disclose that one of their subcontractors is paying Minnesota prisoners an average of 90 cents an hour to fold Disney character balloons. You know, the same balloons that cost customers $45 through a third-party vendor (or more, if you want it delivered to your Disney World Resort hotel room) that Disney promotes. According to the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Anagram International — a manufacturer of Disney balloons — is one of the largest contractors for the Minnesota Corrections System. Local advocates called on Disney to disclose the pay rates for prisoners who fold these balloons and to publicly advocate in support of raising those prisoners’ wages.

    Local public school teachers defied DeSantis’ effort to dismantle their union
    When Gov. DeSantis signed into law a bill in 2023 that aimed to dismantle the state’s teachers unions, teachers across the state rose up to meet the challenge. And that continued this year, as teachers, school psychologists, librarians and other school staff in Central Florida school districts (including Orange and Osceola) voted in favor of keeping their unions certified, as they are now annually subject to a recertification process. For teachers, a union means they get a chance to negotiate higher salaries, duty-free lunches (so they can eat their lunch in peace), stronger paid maternity leave benefits, and generally have a voice on the job, collectively, that otherwise isn’t guaranteed. 

    Orlando’s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.

    Just a few extra scoops of serotonin for you

    Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings wrote a letter to the U.S. Marshals Service on Monday seeking full reimbursement for jailing ICE detainees

    SB 482 would ban minors from access artificial intelligence chatbot accounts

    This article appears in Dec. 24-30, 2025.



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    Orlando Weekly Staff
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  • A lot of struggling Americans are caught between Schumer and Trump | Opinion

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    The U.S. Capitol, two months after supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the building, is illuminated with the setting sun on March 4, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

    The U.S. Capitol, two months after supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the building, is illuminated with the setting sun on March 4, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS)


    Kent Nishimura

    TNS

    The government shutdown rests squarely on the shoulders of Democrats. After getting shellacked at the polls in 2024, they’ve been desperate for an issue to drag them out of electoral purgatory — and the expiring Obamacare subsidies handed them one.

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn’t see a crisis. He sees a campaign opportunity.

    So he shut the government down.

    For Schumer, suffering is the strategy. The U.S. military goes unpaid and federal workers are furloughed. And if he can drag the shutdown out until November 1 when millions of low-income Americans lose SNAP benefits and families discover their health premiums are doubling, then the pain becomes the message, and the misery becomes the campaign ad.

    If I were President Donald Trump, I’d sign executive orders on October 31 that would extend the Obamacare subsidies and fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, forcing Democrats back to Washington with their tails between their legs. And as a bonus, it could nudge GOP candidates ahead in the tight New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races.

    A true October surprise!

    Of course, none of this would be legal. Under the Constitution, Congress alone holds the power to appropriate funds. But that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Trump has been issuing executive orders like Halloween candy — stripping constitutional rights (due process), defying the Supreme Court (flag burning) — and no one blinks. Congress shrugs. His supporters cheer.

    That’s the real problem. These self-proclaimed patriots don’t care about the rule of law — they care about the spectacle. Every overreach, every norm that is shattered, feels to them like “owning the left.” Millions share AI-generated videos of Trump as a “king,” laughing as he drops feces on protesters, mistaking cruelty for courage and authoritarian fantasy for patriotism.

    It’s not trolling — it’s a movement that’s transitioned into a cult.

    I often wonder how our forefathers would react to this kind of idolatry.

    My grandfather was a machinist in the Navy during World War II. He was aboard the USS Missouri when Japan formally surrendered. To him — and to that entire generation — fascism, dictatorships and personality cults weren’t political buzzwords. They were the enemy.

    Members of this generation watched their friends die to preserve democracy against authoritarianism. Seeing Americans now celebrate the idea of a “king” feels like spitting in their faces and on their graves.

    Those men fought to defend freedom. Today’s Republicans mock it. The same party that once claimed to stand for liberty now laughs at the very people exercising it — sneering at the 7 million Americans who showed up to more than 2,600 No Kings protests across the country.

    No one should assume those protesters were just Democrats and that it makes no difference. While MAGA’s core stays loyal, many Americans are buckling under the weight of this administration’s failures.

    Farm bankruptcies in the 12 months that ended in June were up 56% from the prior year. The job market is the worst it’s been in decades. The housing market is in crisis. Inflation is eating up paychecks.

    Meanwhile, Trump is demolishing the East Wing of the White House to build a $300 million ballroom funded by private donors, demanding $230 million of taxpayer money in “compensation” from the Justice Department and proposing a $40 billion bailout to Argentina.

    It’s self-indulgent, tone-deaf and utterly disconnected from Americans who are struggling.

    Still want to dismiss those 7 million protestors? Keep in mind two things.

    Trump won the popular vote by fewer than 2.3 million votes, and the No Kings rallies weren’t confined to blue cities. Protests happened in places Trump won by wide margins — like rural parts of Iowa. That’s not noise. That’s the ground shifting beneath him.

    History shows that when just 3.5% of a population participates in protests, they’ve never failed to bring about change. The people that protested Saturday represented around 4.6% of those who voted in the last presidential election.

    That’s not a good sign for MAGA.

    U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned Republicans to take the protests seriously, and he’s right.

    If the GOP doesn’t wake up, the losses next November won’t just be staggering — they’ll be historic. But hey, at least they will still have those AI videos to laugh at and share.

    Matt Wylie is a South Carolina-based Republican political strategist and analyst with over 25 years of experience working on federal, state and local campaigns.

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    Matt Wylie

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  • This video isn’t of ‘No Kings’ protest in the UK; it’s AI

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    Did the British really join in on the Oct. 18 “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump? A social media video tries to make you think they pulled off a coordinated nighttime spectacle.

    A video shared in an X post with more than 154,000 views as of the afternoon of Oct. 20 showed protesters forming an illuminated human banner spelling out “No Kings.”

    “This No Kings protest in the UK against Trump and his Nazification of America is amazing,” the X user wrote Oct. 18.

    Other users on X and Instagram also shared the video.

    (Screengrab of X post)

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    A couple of things in the video give away the verdict. 

    The footage has a Veo watermark on the bottom-right corner. Veo is Google’s artificial intelligence video generating model, which can create videos up to 8 seconds long that include audio. This matches the time frame of the X video (without counting the TikTok watermark at the end).

    (Screengrab from X post)

    Some other signs of AI generation are:

    (Screengrab from X post)

    V.S. Subrahmanian, a professor at Northwestern University’s Security and AI Lab, added, “The visual rendering of the words ‘No Kings’ appears unusually pristine and uniform.”

    While a human banner during the “No Kings” protests made an appearance Oct. 18 on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, it was during the day and included text saying, “No Kings YES on 50,” a reference to the Proposition 50 question about California’s congressional redistricting. 

    Other countries participated in the “No Kings” protests, including England, Canada, Germany and Portugal. We found no footage similar to what’s in the X post from the UK. 

    The video originated on a TikTok account that says it’s “covering the news you need to see.” The account has shared other AI generated videos. For example, on Oct. 19 it shared an almost identical video claiming to show footage from Washington, D.C.’s “No Kings” protests. Back in June, for the first weekend of “No Kings” protests, the account shared another AI generated video of a Philadelphia crowd.

    The video doesn’t show a real “No Kings” protest in the United Kingdom. We rate it Pants on Fire!

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  • Cruz wrong about MSNBC footage from ‘No Kings’ rally

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    After large crowds turned out Oct. 18 for “No Kings” rallies across the U.S., some conservative politicians and social media accounts sought to undermine the crowd counts.

    One X account posted, “Analysts are calling this the biggest FRAUD in American history. MSNBC falsely aired a Video from 2017 claiming it was LIVE footage from yesterday’s ‘No Kings’ rally in Boston. MSNBC purposely wanted to portray a massive turnout for ‘No Kings.’ Which was a LIE.” Other X accounts posted similar claims.

    Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reshared a post by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that included the MSNBC footage.

    “Why are Dems dishonestly sending around a video from 2017, claiming it was this past weekend?” Cruz wrote. After this story was published, the X post was no longer available on Cruz’s account.

    The footage MSNBC aired is real and depicted Boston’s Oct. 18 “No Kings” rally. The views of the protest that MSNBC aired were similar to others that aired Oct. 18 by four Boston-area television stations.

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    Cruz’s office did not respond by publication time to an inquiry.

    How large were the “No Kings” rally crowds?

    Organizers of the “No Kings” rallies — dozens of liberal groups, including environmental organizations and labor unions — estimate that up to 7 million people attended protests nationally, including 125,000 people at the rally at Boston Common, a large public park. 

    That would make Boston’s rally the nation’s fourth largest of the day, behind New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., according to nationally crowdsourced estimates compiled by G. Elliott Morris, the former editor of FiveThirtyEight.com who now runs a Substack on political data. Morris’ median national estimate for rally attendees was between 5.2 million and 8.2 million people. 

    The 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C., was estimated to include 470,000 people, according to academic estimates reported by The New York Times.

    Crowd counts were scrutinized in 2017 after Trump said counts comparing attendees at the Women’s March with his inauguration undercounted the inauguration crowd. He falsely accused the media of lying about his inauguration crowd.

    MSNBC did not respond to an inquiry for this article. Using the television monitoring service TVEyes, we confirmed that the MSNBC footage aired Oct. 18 around 11:35 a.m. Eastern Time.

    Four TV stations in the Boston area aired similar views Oct. 18, showing large numbers of people filling the park and temporary structures built for guest speakers. 

    WBZ (CBS affiliate): 

     

    WCVB (ABC affiliate):

     

    WFXT (Fox affiliate): 

     

     

    WBTS (NBC affiliate):

     

    PolitiFact partner WMUR-TV in New Hampshire also aired a similar aerial shot:

     

    CNN on Oct. 18 aired similar footage that it credited to WCVB, the ABC affiliate.

    Grok, X’s AI chatbot, might have contributed to misinformation about the video being from 2017, the BBC reported. 

    Several of the X posts that spread the claim of the footage being eight years old included as evidence screenshots of a proposed community note. Community notes are a crowdsourced system X uses to add context to information shared on the platform.

    But a “proposed” community note is one that has not been approved yet. The proposed note shown in the social media posts was written by artificial intelligence, the BBC reported, with supporting links that did not prove that the footage was from 2017. Some Grok responses repeated the false claim from that proposed community note.

    Our ruling

    Cruz said Democrats are “dishonestly sending around a video from 2017” and claiming it showed an Oct. 18 “No Kings” rally in Boston.

    The MSNBC footage Cruz was referring to was real and showed the Oct. 18 “No Kings” rally in Boston.

    Four Boston-area television stations and one in New Hampshire shared similar footage during the stations’ live coverage of Boston’s Oct. 18 “No Kings” protest.

    We rate the statement False.

    UPDATE, Oct. 21, 2025: This story was updated after publication to note that Cruz’s Oct. 19 X post is no longer available on his account.

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  • Anger, resistance and unity coursed through L.A. City Hall “No Kings” protest

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    Healing and uplifting communities through music and unity is the foundation of this event space created by Zacil “DJ Sizzle Fantastic” Pech and Norma “Normz La Oaxaqueña” Fajardo. 

    For nearly a decade DJ Sizzle has built a reputation in the queer POC and Spanish-speaking undocumented communities for making the space for them to come together to celebrate their culture and partake in the ultimate act of resistance — joy. 

    Couples, companions, comadres all dance together on the dancefloor at Cumbiatón. (Photo courtesy of Cumbiatón).

    Cumbiatón was created during the first Trump administration as a direct response to the erasure, racism, homophobia and xenophobia that was engrained into the administration’s mission for those first four years. Now that the second Trump administration is upon us, the racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia are tenfold.

    This event space is a ‘party for the hood, by the hood.’ It is led by women, queer and trans people of color in every aspect of the production process.

    The recent fires that burned through Altadena and Pacific Palisades made DJ Sizzle decide to step back from marketing the event in Los Angeles, an area where people had just lost their businesses, homes and where their lives were completely thrown for a loop. 

    Now they’re back, doubling-down on their mission to bring cumbias, corridos and all the music many of us grew up listening to, to places that are accessible and safe for our communities. 

    “I started Cumbiatón back in 2016, right after the election — which was weirdly similar because we’re going through it again. And a lot of us come from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) movement. We were the ones to really push for that to happen along with the DREAM Act.”

    DJ Sizzle says that she wanted to create a space out on the streets to celebrate life and come together, because of how mentally and physically taxing it is to be a part of the marginalized communities that were and still are, a major target for ongoing political attacks.

    Edwin Soto and Julio Salgado pose for a photo at a Cumbiaton event in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Cumbiatón).

    “We need these spaces so that we can kind of refuel and rejoice in each other’s existence,” said DJ Sizzle. “Because we saw each other out on the street a lot, but never did we really have time to sit down, have a drink, talk, laugh. So I found that music was the way to bring people together and that’s how Cumbiatón got started. It was honestly like a movement of political resistance through music.”

    DJ Sizzle is an undocumented community organizer who aims to not only bring awareness to the issues that her communities face, but also to make space to celebrate the wins and bond over the music that brings people in Latin America, East L.A., Boyle Heights and the Bay area together.  

    Julio Salgado, a queer, visionary artist and migrant rights activist from Ensenada, Baja California with roots in Long Beach and the Bay Area, connected with DJ Sizzle over their shared passion in advocating for immigrant rights. 

    “Cumbiatón was created during the first [Trump] administration, where you know, a lot of people were really bummed out and so what Sizzle wanted to create was a place where people could come together and celebrate ourselves,” said Salgado. “Fast-forward to the second [Trump] administration and we’re here and feel a little bit more like: ‘oh shit, things are bad again.’ But, things have always been bad.”

    Salgado is involved with Cumbiatón through his art. He is a mixed-media artist who creates cartoons using his lived experience with his sobriety journey, undocumented status and queer identity.

    With a background in journalism from California State University, Long Beach, Salgado documents what activists do in the undocumented spaces he has been a part of throughout his life. 

    In 2017, Salgado moved back to Long Beach from the Bay Area, and at the time he started doing political artwork and posters for protests against the first Trump administration, but because the nature of that work can be very tiring, he says that he turned to a more uplifting version of his art where he also draws the joy and unity in his communities. 

    When he and Sizzle linked up to collaborate during that time, he thought he could use his skills to help uplift this brand and bring it to the forefront of the many events that saturate the party landscape. 

    DJ Sizzle doing her thing on stage, giving the crowd the music they went looking for. (Photo courtesy of Cumbiatón).

    “We are familiar with using the dance floor as a way to kind of put the trauma a little bit away just for one night, get together and completely forget,” said Salgado. 

    Coming from an undocumented background, Salgado and Sizzle say that their experience with their legal status has made them very aware of how to go about the ID-check process at the door for their events. 

    “When you’re undocumented, you have something called a [High Security Consular Registration (HSCR)] and it’s kind of like your ID and many of these heterosexual clubs would see that and say it was fake,” said Salgado. “But at the gay club, they didn’t care.” 

    Just being conscious of what that form of ID looks like and knowing that it’s not fake, helps many of the hundreds of people who come through for Cumbiatón, feel just slightly more at ease. 

    Edwin Soto, who is another community activist and leader in the undocu-queer community, is also involved in the planning and organizing of the event. 

    In the long journey of making Cumbiatón what it is now, they say that they have all been very intentional about who they bring in, making sure that whoever they are, they also understand the experience of being undocumented and accepted anyway. 

    “Something that Sizzle and the team have been very intentional about is making sure that [the security at the door] knows that someone might be using their consulate card,” said Soto. 

    Bringing together this event space is no easy task, considering the fact that their events are deeply thought out, intentional and inclusive of not just people of color, but also people with differing abilities and people who do not reflect the norm in West Hollywood clubs. 

    “We created the space that we were longing for that we did not see in West Hollywood,” he said. “[Cumbiatón] is what life could really be like. Where women are not harassed by men. Where people are not body-shamed for what they’re wearing.” 

    When it comes to their lives outside of Cumbiatón and partying, Sizzle says that it does get exhausting and planning the event gets overwhelming. 

    “It is really difficult, I’m not going to lie,” said DJ Sizzle. “We are at a disadvantage being queer and being undocumented because this administration triggers us to a point that, anyone who is not a part of those identities or marginalized communities would ever be able to understand,” said Sizzle. “There are times where I’m just like: ‘I’m going to cocoon for a little bit’ and then that affects the marketing and the communication.” 

    Usually, the events bring in hundreds of people who are looking for community, safety and inclusion. (Photo courtesy of Cumbiatón).

    That’s a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes — which really shouldn’t come as a surprise for anyone who is out there fighting for basic human rights, while also making the space to party and enjoy themselves.

    “I’m really trying to find balance and honestly my life raft are my friends and my community,” she said. “Like, being able to share, being able to have this plática, and be like ‘bitch, I see you and I know its fucked up, but we got each other.’”

    Cumbiatón was made with the purpose of making space to include and invite the many different people in these communities who are otherwise sidelined in broader conversations and in party scenes where they are not as inclusive or thoughtful about their attendees. 

    “How beautiful is it to be queer and listen to rancheras and to norteñas and cumbia, and to just own it,” said Soto. 

    To join Cumbiatón at their next party, visit their Instagram page.

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    Kristie Song

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  • Orlando took to the streets this weekend as part of nationwide No Kings protests

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  • Went to the Protests Over the Weekend? Here’s How You Might Be Surveilled Now

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    If you were one of the estimated 7 million people who marched at a “No Kings” event this past weekend, the inevitable digital breadcrumb trail you left behind will most likely reflect a peaceful day of constitutionally protected self-expression. Massive protests at major cities like LA had arrest counts in the single digits, and the Black Bloc brick-throwers, provocateurs, and random drunks seem to have stayed home. The NYPD, for its part, announced that there were “zero protest-related arrests” in New York City.

    But rhetoric from Republicans lately paints the ruling party’s political adversaries as extremist or even “pro-terrorist.” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has called the No Kings protests “hate America” rallies. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy calls the No Kings rallies “part of antifa,” and implied that they’re funded by dark money rather than arising organically from popular sentiment. That’s especially concerning given that a Trump executive order from last month aims to “identify and disrupt financial networks” linked with funding whatever the Trump Administration deems “domestic terrorism and political violence.”

    “The Trump regime would have us believe that somehow peaceful, pro-democracy protesters are terrorists for daring to defy the fascist takeover of this country,” Ryan Shapiro, executive director of Property of the People, a pro-transparency nonprofit focusing on records related to government surveillance told Gizmodo. “The real terrorists are sitting in the White House shredding the Constitution, declaring war on the American people,” Shapiro added. 

    So here’s what you should keep in mind about surveillance now that you’ve done something deeply un-American by declaring publicly that you don’t support monarchy in the United States.

    It’s not hard for law enforcement to figure out where you’ve been

    If you drove to the protest, surveillance cameras attached to automated license plate reader systems (ALPRs) can be used to determine that your car was present near a protest. This can include both fixed cameras that you drove past on the way to your local march, or ALPR systems mounted on police cruisers, capable of sweeping for license plate data on cars parked near the rally. Public transit is safer in this regard, assuming you paid with cash or coins. If you paid with an app or card tied to your ID, it’s sometimes possible for law enforcement to track you that way too.

    Your phone, however, leaves a trail of location data behind too. If you kept your phone in airplane mode during the demonstration, then good on you because your location data can be recorded and transmitted while it’s connected to the internet. But as the EFF notes in its explainer, “apps may be able to store your GPS location and transmit it once you connect to the internet again.” Even if you use a dumb phone with no GPS or other location-related functions, the rough location of any cell phone can be traced to the cell towers it connected to at a given time. 

    Law enforcement may also use “stingrays” or other ISMI trackers, which mimic legitimate cell towers in order to capture people’s locations. 

    Law enforcement may have photos of you now

    Blurring the faces of everyone in your protests photos is an arduous extra step to take before posting on social media, but if you plan to post photos online — and you’re new to protest etiquette — you should know that it’s a must. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, once something is on social media, it’s available to be used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The EFF suggests Image Scrubber as a software tool for obscuring faces, and also stripping out the identifying metadata attached to your photos — which can include your location and sometimes even your name.

    But if you weren’t wearing a mask, your face was probably just photographed by strangers, and they aren’t all going to know this face-wiping etiquette. The internet is a vast, unknowable place, and photos travel far and wide once they’re out there. There are products out there like PimEyes that will gladly find pictures of you in far-flung corners of the internet in exchange for you uploading pictures of your face to their servers. Personally, I wouldn’t trust any of those services for this purpose. Besides, police just take their own photos of No Kings demonstrators, sometimes from drone-mounted cameras. 

    The EFF explainer on social media surveillance notes that law enforcement uses photos, including those on social media, to monitor asylum seekers and gather intel before other protests. Agencies can also use services like Clearview AI to scan a database of millions of photos in an attempt to identify you—assuming your rally was not in Vermont, New Jersey, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts or Montana, where the technology is banned.

    And according to the New York Times, the Peter Thiel-founded data firm Palantir is working with the Trump Administration to create a single, unified database of information on seemingly all Americans (Palantir denies this, for the record). If such a powerful database existed, and were combined with photos and locations of protesters, all amid a crackdown on dissent, that could all be fine, sure. But it wouldn’t be my first choice if I were designing a healthy democracy. 

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    Mike Pearl

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  • ‘No Kings’ rally brings thousands out to protest Trump’s policies across the DC region – WTOP News

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    The “No Kings” rally brought hundreds of thousands out to protest the polices of President Donald Trump today across the D.C. region and nationwide Saturday.

    Large trucks block part of Pennsylvania Avenue on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025.
    (WTOP/Kyle Cooper)

    WTOP/Kyle Cooper

    A protester holds up a sign
    A protester holds up a sign.
    (WTOP/Kyle Cooper)

    WTOP/Kyle Cooper

    Protesters rally at Lafayette Square during the "No Kings" protest
    Protesters rally at Lafayette Square during the “No Kings” protest in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2025, the day of President Trump’s military parade. In response to the military parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army but also coinciding with Trump’s 79th birthday, a “No Kings” movement has sprung up promising to stage protests in more than 2,000 places across the country, including a large parade expected in Los Angeles which organizers say will feature a “20-foot-tall balloon of Trump wearing a diaper.”
    (AFP via Getty Images/AMID FARAHI)

    AFP via Getty Images/AMID FARAHI

    Demonstrators rally at Lafayette Square during the "No Kings" protest in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2025.
    Demonstrators rally at Lafayette Square during the “No Kings” protest in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2025, the day of President Trump’s military parade.
    (AFP via Getty Images/AMID FARAHI)

    AFP via Getty Images/AMID FARAHI

    Demonstrators marching against DC federal intervention
    Demonstrators march as they protest against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in the city during a rally along the 14th street corridor in northwest Washington, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.
    (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

    AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

    No Kings protest
    Crowds at the “No Kings” protest on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
    (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)

    WTOP/Jimmy Alexander

    "No Kings" protest
    Protestors on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW for the “No Kings” event.
    (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)

    WTOP/Jimmy Alexander

    Singing 4 Peace & Democracy
    Jill Caporale and the “Singing 4 Peace & Democracy” group perform at a No Kings protest in Chevy Chase.
    (WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)

    WTOP/Jimmy Alexander

    The “No Kings” rally brought hundreds of thousands out to protest the polices of President Donald Trump today across the D.C. region and nationwide Saturday.

    The event, running under a “No Kings” banner, calls for a reclamation of democracy without the need for “a king” like the president, who “thinks his rule is absolute.” It’s part of a nationwide series of events protesting against the current administration.

    Participants marched around the D.C. region and are encouraged to wear yellow as a “visible optimistic banner that carries the weight of Democratic struggle,” the organization’s website reads.

    In an interview with WTOP on Saturday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said the protests showed “a great American portrait all day, people standing up for the country they love.’

    “Millions of people around the country are saying yes to our democracy, and yes to our rights,” Van Hollen said, “but no to Kings, no to a lawless president who has been focused on stripping away people’s rights — whether their rights to due process, whether their rights to free speech, whether their rights to a fair justice system.”

    “These protests represent the very best of American democracy, and when Speaker Johnson and the Republicans can’t win the argument, they decide to engage in that kind of language, by labeling these democratic protests as hateful,” he said.

    Ezra Levin, a leading organizer of Saturday’s protests, told The Associated Press that the demonstrations are a response to what he called Trump’s “crackdown on First Amendment rights.”

    Levin, the co-executive director of the nonprofit Indivisible, pointed to Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, his unprecedented promises to use federal power to influence midterm elections, restrictions on press freedom and retribution against political opponents.

    Speakers at the rally included Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, TV scientist Bill Nye and British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan, among other figures.

    In a video posted on X, Sanders said his message of the protest is simple: “People fought and died throughout the history of this country to preserve our democracy. And we’re not going to let Trump or anybody else take it away.”

    Taking to the streets

    In Chevy Chase, Jill Caporale, who organized the “No Kings” rally in the neighborhood with the theme of “Singing 4 Peace & Democracy,” said she and a group of friends who are singers came together to perform for the occasion. 

    “We felt song always brings us together,” said Caporale. “We are here to show support for the country. We love our country.”

    Caporale said their group was concerned that Trump seemed to be indicting enemies while giving friends a break.

    “George Santos gets a pardon,” said Caporale. “Jan. 6 people get a pardon.”

    On Pennsylvania Avenue, pediatrician Dr. Evonne Bing, who was attending the event, said one issue that was important to her was the Trump administration’s approach to vaccine policies.

    She told WTOP that she had much fear about children being unable to grow up healthy.

    “I’ve seen measles, I’ve seen mumps, I’ve seen rubella, I’ve seen polio,” said Dr. Bing. “Vaccines are safe for all. You might have a little pain, you might have a little sniffle, but you’ll be alive.”

    Republicans respond 

    Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a social media post that members of the National Guard will be on duty at the protests “to ensure the Guard will be ready to respond alongside our substantially increased police presence to help keep Virginians safe.”

    “We call it the ‘Hate America rally’ that’ll happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

    “I bet you see pro-Hamas supporters. I bet you see Antifa types. I bet you see the Marxist in full display, the people who don’t want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic, and we do, and that’s what we’re here doing every single day.”

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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  • ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump bring a street party vibe as GOP calls them ‘hate America’ rallies

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    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 — what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.(Video player above: Coverage of the “No Kings” protest in June) With signs such as “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism,” in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, a huge banner with the U.S. Constitution’s “We The People,” preamble that people could sign, and protesters wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.Trump himself is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club. Protests are expected nearby Saturday.Nationwide protests plannedDemonstrators packed New York City’s Times Square, Boston Common, Chicago’s Grant Park and hundreds of smaller public spaces. More than 2,600 rallies were planned for Saturday, organizers said.Many protesters were angered by attacks on their motives. In Washington, Brian Reymann said being called a terrorist all week by Republicans was “pathetic.”“This is America. I disagree with their politics, but I don’t believe that they don’t love this country,” Reymann said, carrying a large American flag. “I believe they are misguided. I think they are power hungry.”More than 1,500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, evoking and openly citing the city’s history of protests and the critical role it played in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement two generations ago.“It just feels like we’re living in an America that I don’t recognize,” said Jessica Yother, a mother of four. She and other protesters said they felt camaraderie by gathering in a state where Trump won nearly 65% of the vote last November.“It was so encouraging,” Yother said. “I walked in and thought, ‘Here are my people.’”Organizers hope to build opposition movement“Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.While protests earlier this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts and Trump’s military parade — drew crowds, organizers say this one is uniting the opposition. Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.“We’re here because we love America,” Sanders said, addressing the crowd from a stage in Washington. He said the American experiment is “in danger” under Trump but insisted “We the people will rule.”The national march against Trump and Musk this spring had 1,300 registered locations, while the first “No Kings” day in June registered 2,100 locations.Republicans denounce ‘Hate America’ ralliesRepublicans sought to portray Saturday’s protesters as far outside the mainstream and a prime reason for the government shutdown, now in its 18th day.From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.” They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut to appease those liberal forces.“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”Many demonstrators, in turn, said they were responding such hyperbole with humor, noting that Trump often leans heavily on theatrics such as claiming U.S. cities he sends troops to are war zones.“So much of what we’ve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy,” said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington protester who wore a wizard hat and held a sign with a frog on it.Democrats try to regain their footing amid shutdownDemocrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, a key organizing group. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”

    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 — what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.

    (Video player above: Coverage of the “No Kings” protest in June)

    With signs such as “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism,” in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, a huge banner with the U.S. Constitution’s “We The People,” preamble that people could sign, and protesters wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.

    This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.

    Trump himself is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

    “They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club. Protests are expected nearby Saturday.

    Nationwide protests planned

    Demonstrators packed New York City’s Times Square, Boston Common, Chicago’s Grant Park and hundreds of smaller public spaces. More than 2,600 rallies were planned for Saturday, organizers said.

    Many protesters were angered by attacks on their motives. In Washington, Brian Reymann said being called a terrorist all week by Republicans was “pathetic.”

    “This is America. I disagree with their politics, but I don’t believe that they don’t love this country,” Reymann said, carrying a large American flag. “I believe they are misguided. I think they are power hungry.”

    More than 1,500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, evoking and openly citing the city’s history of protests and the critical role it played in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement two generations ago.

    “It just feels like we’re living in an America that I don’t recognize,” said Jessica Yother, a mother of four. She and other protesters said they felt camaraderie by gathering in a state where Trump won nearly 65% of the vote last November.

    “It was so encouraging,” Yother said. “I walked in and thought, ‘Here are my people.’”

    Organizers hope to build opposition movement

    “Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.

    While protests earlier this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts and Trump’s military parade — drew crowds, organizers say this one is uniting the opposition. Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.

    “We’re here because we love America,” Sanders said, addressing the crowd from a stage in Washington. He said the American experiment is “in danger” under Trump but insisted “We the people will rule.”

    The national march against Trump and Musk this spring had 1,300 registered locations, while the first “No Kings” day in June registered 2,100 locations.

    Republicans denounce ‘Hate America’ rallies

    Republicans sought to portray Saturday’s protesters as far outside the mainstream and a prime reason for the government shutdown, now in its 18th day.

    From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.” They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut to appease those liberal forces.

    “I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

    “Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”

    Many demonstrators, in turn, said they were responding such hyperbole with humor, noting that Trump often leans heavily on theatrics such as claiming U.S. cities he sends troops to are war zones.

    “So much of what we’ve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy,” said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington protester who wore a wizard hat and held a sign with a frog on it.

    Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.

    The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.

    “What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, a key organizing group. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”

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  • Thousands Attend a Peaceful No Kings Protest in Houston – Houston Press

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    An estimated 7,000 protesters gathered for a No Kings rally at Houston City Hall on Saturday, peacefully condemning President Donald Trump and his policies. No arrests were reported at press time, but several people were treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration at the sunny afternoon event. 

    The Houston rally was one of more than 2,700 across the country, the second time such gatherings have been organized this year — and a lot has happened since the last No Kings event in June. 

    President Trump influenced Texas Republicans to draw new redistricting maps in an effort to add five red seats to the U.S. Congress. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have ramped up. The murder of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah last month escalated partisan infighting and ignited a nationwide debate on free speech. 

    And the federal government shutdown earlier this month left millions of Americans worried that they won’t be able to afford healthcare in the near future. 

    U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, took the stage as the four-hour protest kicked off at 2 p.m., accusing Trump and his administration of “wreaking havoc” on the country. 

    “If you continue to allow them to make you feel hopeless, they will win,” Crockett said. “Today is about showing the rest of the world who we are. We are bigger and badder than the bullshit that is coming out of D.C. We know what it is to love this country. We know what it is to say that we’re patriots.”

    “We know what it is to love and honor our Constitution,” she added. “And we know what lawlessness looks like. Lawlessness looks like ICE going and disappearing people. Please continue to fight. Don’t just show up at the rallies. Show up at City Hall. Show up at the school board, and make sure you show up at the polls and vote.” 

    Spectators at Saturday’s No Kings protest angled to get a photo of U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Credit: April Towery
    Thousands of protesters attended Saturday’s No Kings rally at Houston City Hall. Credit: April Towery

    Lisa Combest, dressed as a unicorn, and Lone Star College history professor Todd Rainer attended to “stand up to this regime.”

    “We want to have a peaceful protest to show people that, one, the left is not radical and violent, and two, that we are not going to let this happen to us,” Combest said. “I believe what they’re doing with presidential powers is obscene and an offense to the Constitution.”

    Rainer said he studies repressive military regimes and believes that the Constitution is being devalued by the current presidential administration. 

    “This country has forgotten our own history, the history of World War II and the lessons that we learned about facism,” he said. “I spent 10 years of my life protecting this country in the Army, the Navy and the Merchant Marines. Donald Trump accusing me of being a hater of America is complete and utter horseshit. The man doesn’t deserve to be a dog catcher.” 

    Lisa Combest and Todd Rainer were among thousands at Saturday’s protest. Credit: April Towery

    Neil Aquino, founder of the Houston Democracy Project and a speaker at Saturday’s rally, said the “demands and attacks from Washington and Austin will only get worse.”

    “Houstonians need to grasp that no level of government will aggressively fight for our civil rights and freedom,” he said. “Protests will often be over-policed on our own Houston taxpayer dime. When we oppose Trump, we’ll be called Antifa and terrorists and the elected officials in our Democratic-voting, diverse city will mostly be [missing in action]. There is nothing ICE can do that will be bad enough for the city to stand up for people. We are on our own.”

    A criticism of the No Kings movement from Trump’s MAGA supporters is that the protesters don’t have clear messaging; they just don’t like the President. But at Saturday’s event and at the one in June, attendees held signs with specific complaints about Trump’s tariffs, immigration policies and cuts to healthcare and FEMA. 

    Dozens of Houston police officers, including those mounted on horseback, patrolled the area around City Hall on Saturday but there did not appear to be National Guard or ICE agents present. 

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced earlier this week he would deploy National Guard troops to a No Kings demonstration in Austin, calling it a planned Antifa (anti-facist) demonstration and garnering a negative response from the city’s mayor Kirk Watson. 

    “Texas will deter criminal mischief and work with local law enforcement to arrest anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property,” Abbot said in a press release. 

    Watson said he does not condone the militarization of public streets. “Much of what we see out of Washington is to create fear and chaos,” the Austin mayor said on social media. “Unfortunately, our state engages in this, too. We should not play into these politics.”

    Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder also pushed back against Abbott, saying the governor was “doing everything he can to suck up to Donald Trump, including taking a page from Trump’s authoritarian playbook, and intimidating people exercising their First Amendment right.

    “Our cities are not warzones or military training grounds, and we do not need an unnecessary display of force at the expense of taxpayers on a peaceful protest,” he said. 

    Police, firefighters and EMTs at the downtown Houston demonstration spent much of their time tending to overheated participants and handing out cold water bottles. 

    Several participants at Saturday’s No Kings protest were treated for dehydration. Credit: April Towery
    A volunteer hands out water at a medical tent. Credit: April Towery

    A woman who identified herself as “Nara” said she was protesting on behalf of her Hispanic and Vietnamese coworkers at a Houston costume shop who are concerned they could be deported. 

    “As with most costume shops, our primary workforce is older, immigrant people with limited English,” she said. “Either [ICE hasn’t] figured out that they’re there or they’re not interested in targeting us yet, but most of the people I work with are targets. I work with a woman who has a young daughter and she was born here but she says that doesn’t matter to [ICE}. And at what point do they decide that being Jewish means I’m not white either? I would care even if I was the whitest person on earth.” 

    Nara said she was protesting in support of her Vietnamese and Hispanic coworkers. Credit: April Towery

    Criticism of the Houston Police Department’s relationship with ICE escalated earlier this week when Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigrant rights group FIEL, was removed from a city council meeting after accusing the mayor and police chief of lying about how they handled an incident with a 15-year-old boy with autism. 

    The teen, Emanuel Gonzalez Garcia, ended up in federal custody on October 5, after wandering off from his mother while they were selling fruit at an intersection. 

    Espinosa said HPD passed off Garcia to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a branch of the federal health department that offers services for “unaccompanied alien children,” according to its website, and implied that minimal effort was made to reunite Emanuel with his family. 

    Police Chief Noe Diaz said Emanuel’s mother contacted police five hours after he went missing. When authorities located the child, he claimed to be homeless and from another country, Diaz said during a council meeting. 

    “Once we were not able to confirm the identity provided by the juvenile on scene and to find an acceptable party to leave them with for their safety, after exhausting all options, we contacted CPS,” Diaz said. 

    CPS said they couldn’t hold the child if he was from another country and could not provide contact information for any family members, so Emanuel was then transported to a federal facility. 

    Mayor John Whitmire addressed the matter publicly, saying, “HPD officers located the young man and spent over four hours working to reunite him with his family. When that was not possible, he was taken to Child Protective Services. Because he had no identification and could not give any names or information of family he was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.” 

    Whitmire has been accused of directing city police to cooperate with ICE, which he says he has not. By law, police who encounter a person with an outstanding warrant must notify the agency that issued it. 

    Thousands gathered for a No Kings rally at Houston City Hall on Saturday. Credit: April Towery

    Houstonians at Saturday’s gathering said they don’t trust that local police are not cooperating with ICE despite Whitmire’s repeated explanation that his officers are just following the law. Several people at the No Kings rally were circulating a petition to recall the mayor. 

    The No Kings movement is supported by chapters of Indivisible, 50501, the American Federation of Teachers and the ACLU. Organizers say they are committed to nonviolent protest and community safety, providing their own security in addition to local police.  

    Nara said she has been attending peaceful protests since she was a child and it’s an important right in a democratic society. 

    “I think the most we ever accomplish by doing this is showing how many people object to what’s happening,” she said. 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • Fort Worth No Kings protest draws over 6,000 people rallying to speak out, vote

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    Despite the rain soaking their flags and smearing the writing on their signs, thousands marched through the streets of downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, shouting, “Donald Trump has got to go.”

    Entirely peaceful, the Fort Worth No Kings rally and march were part of a national movement against President Trump’s “authoritarianism,” according to the release. The local event was organized by Tarrant County AFL-CIO, Fort Worth Area Indivisible, Indivisible TX-24 and Indivisible TX-12.

    Saturday’s event at Burk Burnett Park drew roughly 6,500 people — more than the June No Kings rallies in Arlington and Fort Worth had combined. Some carried American flags or dressed in whimsical costumes, but the majority held signs conveying pro-democracy and anti-Trump messages.

    A large crowd gathers in Burk Burnett Park for the No Kings protest in Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
    A large crowd gathers in Burk Burnett Park for the No Kings protest in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. John Rowland Special to the Star-Telegram

    U.S. veteran Jeremiah Dye said he came out to the protest dressed as in an inflatable frog suit because democracy is a participation sport and resistance to bad governance can be joyful.

    “When I look around, and I see my veteran brothers and sisters sleeping under the bridges, going without food, going without access to mental health care and health care facilities,” Dye said, “when I see people of color being discriminated against, when I see women losing their ability to affect their own health care decisions, when I see little black boys in Chicago being zip tied by 250 pound ICE officers…, somebody’s going to get these frog hands.”

    EJ Carrion, 817 podcast host and the emcee for the rally, said his goal is make the people in attendance just 2% bolder so they will speak out at local government meetings and rally their circles to vote.

    “The cherry on top is for them to realize this is a local issue,” Carrion said. “It’s about Fort Worth. We are the front line of democracy, and if we could signal that we’ve had enough — you know, to America, we’re the cowboy city. And if the cowboy city decides that they had enough, what does that say for everyone else across the country?”

    Behind a Fort Worth Police car, clergy members and people dressed as handmaids led the chanting mass on a 1.5-mile trek around downtown and back to the park.

    A large crowd marches through downtown streets during the No Kings Rally in Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
    A large crowd marches through downtown streets during the No Kings protest in Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. John Rowland (Special to the Star-Telegram)

    Referencing the parable about God separating the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25, the Rev. William S. Winston, a retired Episcopal priest, said the Bible says people must serve the needy no matter who they are. Winston said because of that, Bible-believing and sacramental Christians have no choice but to be out protesting for the protection of immigrants.

    “We need to be so geared by our religion, our faith, our Bible, our sacraments, to go completely reflexively to the least in our communities and voice and empower them to the very best that we can,” he said.

    Once the rain waned and the marchers returned to the park, activists and elected officials spoke to the crowd about the need to protect democracy and speak out against authoritarianism and fascism.

    Benny Delavega waves an American Flag as he speaks at the No Kings protest in Burk Burnett Park, Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
    Benny Delavega waves an American flag as he speaks at the No Kings protest in Burk Burnett Park in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. John Rowland Special to the Star-Telegram

    Defense attorney and former police officer Julya Billhymer quoted Benjamin Franklin’s words that America is “a republic, if you can keep it.” She said now is the time to embrace the responsibility to keep it.

    To inspire the crowd to save America, Billhymer had everyone raise their right hand and repeat the same oath that politicians and public officials take.

    “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Billhymer led the crowd in saying. “That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and I will faithfully fight for democracy.”

    Ninety-five-year-old Korean War veteran William Johnson is participating, along with a large crowd, as they march through downtown streets during the No Kings Rally in Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
    Ninety-five-year-old Korean War veteran William Johnson, center, and others march through downtown streets during the No Kings protest in Fort Worth on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. John Rowland Special to the Star-Telegram

    Among the speakers were Fort Worth Council member Chris Nettles, Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons and State Rep. Nicole Collier.

    “This is what patriotism looks like,” Collier said. “You are here because you care. You are here because you believe in a democracy where freedom of speech is a right, not a risk. You are here because you will stand your ground no matter how wet it is, because you are rooted in our democracy. This country was built on a democracy. We the people. And when they lose sight of that, we got to take our country back.”

    Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Rachel Royster

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    Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.

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  • Q&A: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen on the federal shutdown and ‘No Kings Day’ – WTOP News

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    Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen joined WTOP to talk about the ongoing shutdown and Saturday’s “No Kings” protest in the D.C. area and nationwide.

    Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen has taken a prominent position for the Democrats in the wake of the 2025 federal shutdown.

    He’s expressed strong support for federal workers across the country who have been fired, furloughed or otherwise affected when President Donald Trump shut down the federal government on Oct. 1.

    WTOP’s Ralph Fox spoke with Sen. Van Hollen about the ongoing shutdown, and Saturday’s “No Kings” protest. Read the full Q&A below.

    Listen to the full interview below or read the transcript. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. 

    Md. Sen. Chris Van Hollen joined WTOP’s Ralph Fox to discuss the shutdown and the No Kings protest.

    • Ralph Fox:

      Let’s start with the shutdown. There have been whispers this could go on until Thanksgiving if there isn’t a substantial change. What are your thoughts?

    • Chris Van Hollen:

      Well, I certainly hope not. We would like to end the shutdown today.

      I’ve now voted seven times on a plan that would reopen the government without giving Donald Trump a blank check, and also in a way that prevents this huge health care crisis that is upon us.

      We need to diffuse this ticking time bomb on America’s health care, and what we’d like to do is sit down and negotiate with President Donald Trump. He’s refused to do that.

      I’m glad he’s doing negotiations in the Middle East, but he’s not negotiating here at home to reopen the government.

      As you know, the House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republicans have been on, I think, a five-week paid vacation right now. They are totally AWOL. So in order to move forward, we do need everybody to come to the table.

    • Ralph Fox:

      As far as the “No Kings” protests going on today, the right is positioning them as a “Hate America” event. What’s your take there?

    • Chris Van Hollen:

      Well, that would be news to the moms and dads and grandmothers and grandfathers and kids and people of all ages and walks of life who I’ve met this morning on the march, including thousands and thousands of Marylanders already.

      Millions of people around the country are saying yes to our democracy, and yes to our rights, but no to kings, no to a lawless president who has been focused on stripping away people’s rights — whether their rights to due process, whether their rights to free speech, whether their rights to a fair justice system.

      So these protests represent the very best of American democracy, and when Speaker Johnson and Republicans can’t win the argument, they decide to engage in that kind of language labeling these democratic protests as hateful.

      But I will just tell you that we saw a great American portrait all morning. Today, people standing up for the country they love.

    • Ralph Fox:

      Do you think that protests like this will start to move some of the elected lawmakers in Congress?

    • Chris Van Hollen:

      I hope so, yes. Because ultimately, especially for Republicans in Congress who’ve been a rubber stamp for Donald Trump.

      The question is, are they more afraid of a Donald Trump tweet against them, or are they more worried about what their constituents think? And what we’re seeing is across the board, whether you’re Republican, a Democrat or anything else, people do not like this march toward taking their rights away.

      And they certainly don’t like a government that seems to be focused on helping Donald Trump’s billionaire buddies at the expense of everybody else in America.

      So this is an important day for American patriots. I mean, we fought a revolution to to make sure that we weren’t bowing down to kings, and that’s what today is all about. Peaceful protests across the country, and across Maryland, to stand up for our democracy and our Constitution.

    • Ralph Fox:

      To go back to the shutdown, do you have an idea of what it’s going to take to get these federal employees moving once again and people back to work?

    • Chris Van Hollen:

      Well, all it takes is a vote in the House and the Senate to get this moving and reopen the government. And we need to do so without giving Donald Trump a blank check.

      Remember, Donald Trump has been shutting down parts of the government since day one. I mean, he brought in Elon Musk with his chainsaw. They illegally fired lots of federal employees. Now they’re holding federal employees hostage again to their agenda.

      So what is required now is for the good of the country. The President needs to sit down and negotiate. I mean, he said his top priority was going to be to bring down prices and costs on Day One, he’s done everything else. He’s attacked our democracy. He has attacked our rights. But prices keep going up, and we are about to experience this huge spike in health care costs that we’re trying to address. And you know, Donald Trump says he cares about health care, but he’s nowhere to be found when it comes to sitting down to resolve this. We could do it today.

    • Ralph Fox:

      I have one last question for you. I know it’s been a key issue with you. What’s the latest we know about Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

    • Chris Van Hollen:

      Here’s an example of an individual who was literally disappeared off the streets of Maryland, denied his due process, and sent to a gulag in El Salvador.

      The Trump administration said they would never let him set foot on American soil, even though their lawyers admitted that he’d been wrongfully deported.

      By the way, the people who admitted that in the Justice Department, they got fired, which tells you that this is an administration that punishes people for telling the truth.

      But right now, he’s back in the American court system, and he is working to protect his rights. As a federal court judge said the other day, the administration continues to abuse its power.

      In this case, the federal judge said there was some ample evidence to show that the Trump administration was engaged in a political prosecution. So at least now Abrego Garcia is in the American court system and not locked up in a gulag in El Salvador.

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  • ‘No Kings’ march in NYC sees more than 100,000 marchers speak out against Trump, no arrests or disruptions | amNewYork

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    Tens of thousands of New Yorkers peacefully marched from the heart of the Big Apple to Lower Manhattan on Saturday in protest of President Trump and his policies, including the escalation of violence against United States citizens.

    Photo by Dean Moses

    More than 100,000 patriotic New Yorkers peacefully walked from the heart of the Big Apple to Lower Manhattan on Saturday at the “No Kings”  march in protest of President Trump and his policies, including the escalation of violence against United States citizens.

    A sea of humanity began assembling at Father Duffy Square at around 11 a.m. on Oct. 18. Encompassed by the flashing billboard lights of Times Square, fuming New Yorkers held signs reading “ICE out of NYC,” “fight fascism,” and “we love America.”

    Dubbed the No Kings march, the protest is a nationwide call to action that saw residents from all across the country take to the streets in order to voice opposition to Trump sending masked federal agents into the streets to target and arrest immigrants and protesters.

    The march also pushed back against healthcare cuts, the failure to act on mass shootings, and a demand to keep the military out of NYC.

    the protest is a nationwide call to action that saw residents from all across the country take to the streets in order to voice opposition to Trump sending masked Feds into the streets to target and arrest immigrants and protesters. The march also pushed back against healthcare cuts, the failure to act on mass shootings, and a demand to keep the military out of NYC.Photo by Dean Moses
    the protest is a nationwide call to action that saw residents from all across the country take to the streets in order to voice opposition to Trump sending masked Feds into the streets to target and arrest immigrants and protesters. The march also pushed back against healthcare cuts, the failure to act on mass shootings, and a demand to keep the military out of NYC.Photo by Dean Moses
    New Yorkers took to the streets with signs in hand.Photo by Dean Moses

    “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty,” a statement on the No Kings website read. “Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and bigger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan; it is the foundation our nation was built upon.”

    A slew of New York politicians also joined the ranks of sign-toting, peaceful protesters, such as New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and congresswoman Nydia Velázquez.

    “I joined 10s of thousands of New Yorkers today to say it loud and clear: No to tyranny. No to cruelty. No to kings in America. The GOP can smear these protests all they want, but they can’t silence the truth. Americans are fed up with their authoritarian agenda,” Velázquez wrote on X.

    Comptroller Brad Lander. Photo by Dean Moses
    “No Kings.”Photo by Dean Moses
    Time Square overflowed with New Yorkers.Photo by Dean Moses

    The march continued down 7th Avenue, drawing attention from residents who peered out of their windows and climbed onto their fire escapes to watch the deluge of humanity flood the streets. The march came to an end at 14th Street Union Square.

    In the days leading up to the march, protesters promised that it would remain peaceful, a pledge they kept according to the NYPD.

    “The majority of the No Kings protests have dispersed at this time and all traffic closures have been lifted. We had more than 100,000 people across all five boroughs peacefully exercising their first amendment rights and the NYPD made zero protest-related arrests,” The NYPD wrote in X.

    New Yorkers watched the march from their fire escapes.Photo by Dean Moses
    Many of the marches held flags.Photo by Dean Moses
    Crowns and megaphones ruled the day.Photo by Dean Moses
    The march also called for no cuts to healthcare.Photo by Dean Moses
    “No Kings”Photo by Dean Moses
    The march demanded Trump stop flooding Feds into american cities.Photo by Dean Moses
    It also called for the removal of ICE.Photo by Dean Moses
    Protesters dressed up for the march.Photo by Dean Moses
    The march ran from Time Square to Union Square.Photo by Dean Moses

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  • Protesters Flood Streets for ‘No Kings’ Demonstrations Worldwide

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    Millions of protesters are gathering across the United States and internationally on Saturday for coordinated “No Kings” demonstrations opposing President Donald Trump’s policies and agenda enforced by his administration.

    Over 2,600 rallies are taking place simultaneously in cities large and small, with at least one event scheduled in every U.S. state and demonstrations unfolding across multiple continents, including Germany, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Prague.

    This event marks the third major mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and represents a significant show of organized, international opposition to the administration’s direction.

    When Newsweek inquired by email on Saturday about the global protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded: “Who cares?”

    Why It Matters

    The “No Kings” movement has previously organized mass rallies against the policies of the president, coordinating 1,800 protests across the United States on June 14, the birthday shared by Trump and the U.S. Army, as the military branch marked 250 years in the spring.

    While many of the protests remained peaceful, there were some instances of violence, including a vehicular assault in Virginia.

    The demonstrations come as the federal government enters its 18th day of shutdown, which has paralyzed federal programs and services while testing the constitutional balance of power. For Democrats and progressive organizers, Saturday’s protests signal a potential turning point after six months of internal division and demoralization following Trump’s return to office.

    Organizers view the movement as a critical moment for democratic resistance and an antidote to what they characterize as authoritarian governance.

    What To Know

    The “No Kings” movement is organizing Saturday’s campaign to “defend democratic norms and reject authoritarianism,” with protest leaders framing the demonstrations as a choice between “democracy versus dictatorship.”

    Organizers have emphasized nonviolent action and conducted a 90-minute safety and security training session earlier this month to help protest hosts practice de-escalation techniques. The movement’s website explicitly discourages participants from bringing weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted.

    The protests come amid a broader immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, with the Department of Homeland Security pledging to deport people who do not have proper documentation. Trump has authorized the deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to Chicago and previously to Los Angeles.

    Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday ordered a surge of state troopers and National Guard troops into Austin, a Democratic stronghold in the state, ahead of planned “No Kings” protests this weekend that he has called “Antifa-linked,” directing law enforcement to arrest anyone who commits violence or property damage and saying that Texas “will NOT tolerate chaos.”

    Abbott also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to deploy aircraft and other tactical assets.

    Protests are taking place across major U.S. cities and smaller communities, with timing varying by location from late morning through early afternoon.

    Some events, including the New York City demonstration, are organized as marches rather than traditional rallies.

    Alabama

    Connecticut

    Florida

    Illinois

    Kansas

    New York

    Washington, DC

    Germany

    Portugal

    United Kingdom

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  • Thousands expected at Denver ‘No Kings’ rally opposing Trump

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    DENVER — Crowds of up to 20,000 people are expected to gather in front of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Saturday to take part in one of several anti-Trump “No Kings” rallies in Colorado and across the country.

    Some RTD light rail lines have been impacted in anticipation of the crowds.

    The 50501 Movement, which is orchestrating the protests, says it chose the “No Kings” name to support democracy and speak out against what it calls the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration.

    The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement.

    Similar rallies are planned in Colorado Springs, Longmont, Arvada, Broomfield, and Northglenn, with over 2,600 events nationwide.

    Trump himself is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

    “They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club.

    Protests are expected nearby on Saturday.

    Political experts say these protests and the possible long-term political impact on President Donald Trump remain uncertain.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report

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  • ‘There are more of us that there are of them’: No Kings rally returns to Atlanta

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    A woman holds a handmade sign during the No Kings rally in the Atlanta Civic Center parking lot on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The power of the people was on full display in Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 18. A second “No Kings” rally took place at the Atlanta Civic Center early that morning, and the crowd and the noise were reminiscent of the last rally that was held there. Former United States Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally there late in her 2024 run to the White House, and then, just like on Saturday, the place was packed with supporters of a singular cause.

    On June 14, a “No Kings” rally, a national series of coordinated rallies and non-violent protests, took place at Freedom Plaza. On those days, thousands come out in their respective cities to protest, among many things, the decisions being made by the current United States Presidential Administration. Saturday was no different.

    Dr. Veronica Okwoche (above) said she attended the rally because she had to speak out. “I am here for my students who have no voice,” she said. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    People wearing costumes, carrying signs that read “No Kings, No Tyrants, No Trump,” “Due Process Matters,” “Democracy Needs Your Courage,” and “No Troops in Our Streets,” and wearing “No Kings” t-shirts filled the massive parking lot. According to the organization’s website and social media posts, this demonstration was one of over 2,5000 “No Kings” rallies taking place across the country.

    In Georgia, “No Kings” rallies took place in big and small cities alike. Rallies were scheduled in Augusta, Brunswick, Gainesville, Richmond Hill, Summerville, Tucker, and Valdosta.

    Asked why she was attending the rally at the Civic Center, Dr. Veronica Okwoche, an Atlanta resident, mother of two daughters, and an educator, said, “I am here for my students who have no voice,” she said. “I have to advocate for them.”

    Okwoche, a native Nigerian, also added that she is an immigrant and wanted to express her disdain for how the current presidential administration is handling immigration.

    “I have to speak out,” Okwoche said.

    Dr. Lloyd Norman (above) said he attended the rally on Saturday for several reasons. “I’m here for my grandchildren,” he said. “I’m here because I hate racism.” Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Some of the speakers at the Atlanta “No Kings” rally work for organizations that focus on strengthening and educating citizens on everything from voting rights to rights for the disabled, to legal defense. The list of speakers included Mark Peterson of Common Defense, Brionte McCorkle of Georgia Conservation Voters, and Dom Kelly of the New Disabled South, an organization that advocates for disability rights and disability justice throughout the South’s 14 states. 

    The array of demonstrators and attendees ranged from millennials to boomers.

    Dr. Lloyd Norman, an Atlanta resident, said he was there to fight for several interests.

    “I’m here for my grandchildren. I’m here because I hate racism. I’m here because I hate when people are profiled because they are Black and brown. I am here because I love freedom,” Norman said.

    Similar to many large demonstrations in Atlanta and across the country, many people were expressing personal and professional interests. One of those people was Susan LaMont, who is running for Atlanta Mayor as a write-in candidate.

    “We try to go out and talk to working people, students, and people with whom we may not agree,” said LaMont. “We see the deepening crisis facing working-class people in the world.”

    Rodney Jones attended the “No Kings” rally at Freedom Plaza in June and told The Atlanta Voice that he was at the Civic Center to continue supporting the movement.

    “The constitutional power grab by Donald Trump and his attack on the American people with the military is why I am here,” Jones said. “We’ve got to stand for something.”

    ACLU of Georgia Executive Director Andrea Young was one of the first people to address the crowd. Young said the rally was a “We love America rally.”

    “We are here to say we love America too much to give it over to a wannabe king,” Young said. “The people in the Trump regime are not above the law. At the same time, they act like some of us are below the law.”

    Thousands of people attended the “No Kings” rally in Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 18. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Kelly, who took the stage with the help of a cane, said it was no longer acceptable to leave any community behind.

    “Regardless, whether or not we belong to it. There are more of us than there are of them,” he said.

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  • Thousands expected to gather for ‘No Kings’ protest in downtown Chicago Saturday

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    CHICAGO (WLS) — “No Kings” organizers are expecting tens of thousands of people from the suburbs and city neighborhoods to participate in a peaceful protest Saturday beginning at Butler Field in Chicago’s Grant Park.

    Chicago is one of dozens of cities nationwide holding “No Kings” protests Saturday.

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    It comes as protesters have gathered near the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility for weeks, calling for a change in immigration enforcement.

    Because of recent ICE arrests in the Chicago area, organizers are expecting a much bigger crowd than the previous “No Kings” rally held in June.

    After a two-hour program beginning at noon in Grant Park on Saturday, protesters will then march through downtown. The Chicago Police Department says it will have extra resources throughout the Loop.

    Red paint, white poster board and a final stroke, “Democracy dies in silence” is the phrase protester Alex Saucedo is using for his hand made sign for Chicago’s “No Kings” protest.

    “We want to make sure that we’re drawing attention to the cause of making sure that ICE fully aware that we don’t need them here,” Saucedo said. “They’re not welcome in Chicago.”

    Planning to attend Saturday’s protest, Saucedo and his wife came to this Brighton Park Art Studio to make signs today. ..With the help of his friend musician Samantha Rose, Mural Artist Holiday Gerry opened his studio up today to the public…They provided free supplies to make No Kings signs….

    “A lot of people are talking about it, and people are really going to be showing up,” said Holiday Gerry with Holiday Studios. “And I wanted to extend this community space for people to get to know each other.”

    RELATED | What to know about ‘No Kings’ protests around US

    “Authoritarianism wins when we decide we’re too scared to show up and defend our Constitution and our fundamental rights,” Personal PAC CEO and protest organizer Sarah Garza Resnick said. “It is going to be peaceful tomorrow. We are peaceful people who just believe in standing up for what is right.”

    Garza Resnick’s organization Personal PAC is one of several organizations behind Chicago’s “No Kings” event. President Donald Trump and his administration have painted protest participants as left wing violent radical groups who are getting paid.

    “This is their tactic,” Garza Resnick said. “Nobody is getting paid out there. I’m a mom.”

    Promising a peaceful event, Resnick expects people from all walks of life to participate.

    Armed with a speaker and bullhorn, Samantha Rose says the protest will be a family affair. She is bringing her dad and her friends are bringing their kids. Rose does not view it as a partisan event.

    “The political party is Americans for America, speaking up and using our right freedom of speech,” Rose said. “That’s what being American is.”

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  • Portland Police Prepare For “No Kings” March Saturday – KXL

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    Portland Police Monitor Protesters Portland’s Waterfront. (June 14, 2025)

    Portland, Ore. – “No Kings” protest marches are planned around the country Saturday, to show opposition to President Trump’s policies, including his use of the military in U.S. cities. Several events are planned for the Portland-metro area. 

    Portland Police estimate the downtown crowd could swell to anywhere from a few thousand to 50,000 people. “We’ve seen a number of protests, they’ve been very peaceful. And there are no indicators that we’re going to see anything different here from this,” Assistant Chief Craig Dobson said Friday.

    Portland’s Bureau of Transportation confirms it approved permits for three marches, starting at 11 a.m.:  At the Convention Center, east end of the Hawthorne Bridge and Pioneer Courthouse Square. 

    Multiple agencies will be involved in safety and traffic patrols, including State Police and Portland Fire. “We’re working with TriMet to ensure, as they close the roads, we’ll be able to redirect some of the bus routes,” says Dobson, “We’re working with ODOT to ensure some of the offramps and onramps are okay for people to be able to safely participate in this event.”

    Dobson added Friday, “It’s billed as a family-friendly event, so we’re expecting it to be much like the ones that we’ve seen in the summer. We’re not anticipating any issues; it’s just going to be a large, friendly event, where we anticipate people to be able to exercise their First Amendment rights. And we’re hoping that at the end of the event, they can take advantage of the decent weather and go into downtown and southeast Portland, and visit the businesses in those areas.” 

    In mid-June, an estimated 50,000 people marched through downtown Portland in the first “No Kings” demonstration (pictured). Portland Police say officers managed the event without any reports of violence or vandalism.

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  • ‘All in this together’: Robert De Niro calls on Americans to protest – National | Globalnews.ca

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    Robert De Niro is encouraging people in the United States to join the “No Kings” protests against U.S. President Donald Trump, happening across America on Oct. 18.

    In a video shared to Instagram, De Niro, 82, spoke about the “original ‘No Kings’ protest” that took place 250 years ago.

    “Americans decided they didn’t want to live under the rule of King George III. They declared their independence and fought a bloody war for democracy,” De Niro said. “We’ve had two and a half centuries of democracy since then. Often challenging, sometimes messy, always essential. And we’ve fought in two World Wars to preserve it.”

    “Now we have a would-be king who wants to take it away — King Donald the First. F— that,” the Oscar winner continued. “We’re rising up again, this time non-violently raising our voices to declare, ‘No Kings.’”

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    “I’m Robert De Niro asking you to stand up and be counted in the nationwide ‘No Kings’ protest on October 18th,” the actor said, concluding. “We’re all in this together — indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

    The “No Kings” protests first took place this year in hundreds of American cities on June 14 during a military parade in Washington that marked the U.S. army’s 250th anniversary, which coincided with Trump’s birthday.

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    The protests were held to counter what organizers said were Trump’s plans to feed his ego on his 79th birthday (which was also Flag Day). The “No Kings” theme was orchestrated by the 50501 Movement — which stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement, and is made up of members of the American public who say they stand for democracy and against what they call the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration.

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    Protesters have called for Trump to be “dethroned,” as they compare his actions to that of a king and not a democratically elected president.

    “They’ve defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services,” the group says on its website, referring to the Trump administration and its policies. “They’ve done this all while continuing to serve and enrich their billionaire allies.”


    Click to play video: 'Innocent bystander killed after being mistakenly shot by security volunteer at Utah ‘No Kings’ rally'


    Innocent bystander killed after being mistakenly shot by security volunteer at Utah ‘No Kings’ rally




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    Stephen Colbert also called for people to join the protests on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    “In response to all this obvious abuse of authoritarian power by the administration, this weekend, ladies and gentlemen, there will be 2,500 rallies across the United States under the banner of the ‘No Kings’ protest,” Colbert said, before cutting to a clip of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson referring to the protests as the “Hate America rally.”

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    “Hate America? It’s ‘No Kings.’ America does not like kings. There are only three good kings in America: Gayle (King), Stephen (King) and Burger (King),” he added.

    The “No Kings” coalition responded to Johnson’s comments, referring to the protest as the “Hate America rally” and blaming it for “the ongoing government shutdown.”

    “Speaker Johnson is running out of excuses for keeping the government shut down. Instead of reopening the government, preserving affordable healthcare, or lowering costs for working families, he’s attacking millions of Americans who are peacefully coming together to say that America belongs to its people, not to kings,” the group said, adding that they will “see everyone on October 18.”

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    — With files from The Associated Press


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  • No Kings protests return to Denver and other Colorado cities on Saturday

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    Thousands of people took to Denver’s streets taking part in the No Kings protest on Saturday, June 14, 2025. A second march against President Trump’s deportation policies was part of the day’s events.

    Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

    The No Kings protests will return to Denver and dozens of other Colorado cities on Saturday.

    In Denver, activists and protesters will gather near the Capitol to protest the policies of the Trump administration from noon to 4 p.m. 

    The protest will be anchored at Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park, with a rally from 12-1 p.m. and a march from 1-2 p.m.

    The Denver march will go through downtown. The Denver Police Department will monitor the protest for safety purposes, a spokesperson said.

    The protest’s organizers also say there will be music and sign-making on the west steps of the Capitol throughout the afternoon. They’re expecting 10,000 attendees, according to a permit filed with state officials. 

    This is the second installment of the “No Kings” protest. The first was in June, when thousands of people gathered throughout the state — and many more across the country. 

    For that protest, police shut down Lincoln Street near the Colorado State Capitol as protesters spilled onto the street. Marchers also walked on roads around downtown Denver, including Speer Boulevard and Colfax Avenue, among others.

    A spokesperson for the Regional Transportation District said the agency will monitor the protest and enact contingency plans in case services are disrupted. 

    “While RTD is focused on being prepared for large events and gatherings that have the potential to disrupt its services, it can be difficult to predict crowd actions in the moment. Agency staff will actively monitor upcoming events to support the safety of customers and, to the greatest extent possible, minimize service disruptions,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. 

    RTD suggests riders download the RTD app and sign up for alerts.

    Not just Denver 

    Over 50 rallies are planned across the state, according to the national No Kings website, from Fort Morgan to Cortez. Events are planned in many of Denver’s suburbs, as well as in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Grand Junction and other cities and towns.  

    The rallies are designed as a catch-all for people to protest a wide range of policies from the Trump administration, from the immigration crackdown to worries around free speech and LGBTQ rights.

    The last protest brought together a broad spectrum of liberals, leftists and others. While the main thrust of the protest was against President Donald Trump, many people were protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, celebrating Pride Month and supporting Palestinians. 

    “But the fight isn’t over. President Trump has doubled down—sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing immigrant families, silencing voters, dismantling protections, and handing our future to billionaire allies while everyday people struggle,” reads the online description for Saturday’s protest. “He wants us to believe his rule is absolute. We’re here to remind him: it’s not.” 

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