More than 8 million people took part in over 3,300 No Kings protests across all 50 US states and in more than a dozen countries on Saturday, organisers said, making it the largest number of protests in a single day in US history. The demonstrations, coordinated by a coalition including Move On, Indivisible, 50501, labour unions and grassroots groups, targeted the Trump administration over issues ranging from immigration raids to the war in Iran and threats to voting rights.
In Minnesota's Twin Cities, around 200,000 people gathered at the state capitol. Senator Bernie Sanders and musician Bruce Springsteen addressed the crowd, with Springsteen leading chants against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Governor Tim Walz praised residents for standing up for immigrants after federal agents killed two Minneapolis residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, whose names featured prominently on protest signs.
In New York City, multiple marches converged in Times Square and the outer boroughs. Attorney General Letitia James, public advocate Jumaane Williams, actor Robert DeNiro and others led a march from Central Park carrying banners reading 'We protect our democracy – people over billionaires – we protect our neighbours.' Protesters carried LGBTQ+ pride and Palestinian flags, with anti-war messaging a consistent theme.
In Washington DC, a group of Palestinian mothers waved a 10ft-tall flag at the Lincoln Memorial, while other activists marched across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge to Fort McNair, where White House adviser Stephen Miller resides. In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed thousands in Grant Park, saying 'our movement is bigger, our resolve is bigger.'
Nearly half of all No Kings events were held in traditionally Republican or battleground states, including rural areas that had never seen such mobilisations, organisers said. The third No Kings protest follows a previous event in October that drew 7 million people.
