Tens of thousands of people in Southern California and millions across the nation are expected to join marches and rallies today for the third annual No Kings protest against the policies and actions of President Donald Trump.
Organizers predict the turnout for the No Kings National Day of Nonviolent Action will be historic, including an estimated 12 million protesters – 5 million more than the most recent No Kings day in October. More than 3,000 communities will hold demonstrations on Saturday, and more than 30 organizations are involved in coordinating events from rural towns to big cities.
Protesters want to see Trump impeached and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency abolished.
“With every ICE raid, every escalation abroad, and every abuse of power at home, Americans are rising up in opposition to Trump’s attempt to rule through fear and force. Each day Trump crosses a new red line, and more people are deciding they’ve had enough,” said Ezra Levin, Co-Executive Director of Indivisible, the grassroots organization leading the nationwide coalition, along with #50501 and other groups.
“That is why people across the country are organizing, showing up for their neighbors,” Levin said on the Indivisible site, “and making one thing unmistakably clear: we are done with the corruption, the cruelty, and the authoritarianism.”
The unpopular war in Iran, the recent chaos at airports, affordability problems and expectations that inflation will continue to rise are expected to fuel the turnout today.
Trump supporters say the protests are spectacles of no real consequence. They say he’s no king, and that he can’t do whatever he wants, or he’d outlaw the protests.
The White House dismissed the nationwide demonstrations as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.
“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
Protest organizers say the No Kings-related organizations have shaped public debates and influenced legislative actions, including helping mount pressure to pass bipartisan legislation such as the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
More than 50,000 people are expected to gather in downtown Los Angeles. The event, to be held at Gloria Molina Grand Park across from City Hall, is set to begin with a rally at 2 p.m., followed by a march at 3 p.m.
Other protests in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, can be found on this interactive map. People also can text 59798 to locate the nearest demonstration.
Though the No Kings movement advocates non-violence and most of the protests are peaceful, some people attending demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles or coming along after dark following recent rallies have faced off with police, who eventually donned riot gear, deployed less-lethal ammunition and made arrests after the smaller crowds failed to disperse.
This past week, in anticipation of today’s protest, metal gates were installed at some on- and off-ramps along the 101 Freeway in the downtown area to stop demonstrations from spilling onto the freeway, blocking traffic and endangering pedestrians.
The Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul is the national flagship event, in recognition of how the state where federal agents fatally shot two people who were monitoring Trump’s immigration crackdown became an epicenter of resistance.
Headlining that observance will be Bruce Springsteen, performing “Streets of Minneapolis,” which he wrote in response to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and in tribute to the thousands of Minnesotans who took to the streets over the winter.
Springsteen’s Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour, which has a “No Kings” theme, kicks off Tuesday in Minneapolis.
Rallies are also planned in more than a dozen other countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia, Levin said, adding that countries with constitutional monarchies call the protests “No Tyrants.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Swinging gates installed on 101 Freeway ahead of Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ protest