They carried protest signs, waved flags and drew honks of support from passing cars.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of San Diegans took to the streets Saturday for a third round of \u201cNo Kings\u201d demonstrations, this time rallying against an escalating war with Iran, ongoing scrutiny of the Epstein files and mounting economic instability under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
The protests \u2014 part of a coordinated global movement whose flagship rally was held at the Minnesota State Capitol \u2014 unfolded amid a partial federal government shutdown, a sliding stock market and mounting concerns over conditions inside immigration detention facilities.<\/p>\n
More than 3,200 events were planned nationwide for Saturday, with additional demonstrations in countries including Italy, France and Germany.<\/p>\n
Locally, at least 20 rallies were scheduled from Oceanside to Otay Mesa, with events spread throughout the day. A main rally in downtown San Diego kicked off at 10 a.m. at Waterfront Park, where police estimated roughly 40,000 people gathered to hear speakers, including elected officials, union leaders and podcaster Allison Gill.<\/p>\n
In North County, hundreds marched through Carlsbad, carrying signs and chanting as they moved along Marron Road.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day\u2019s a new horror show,\u201d said Patti Slack, membership chair of the Democratic Club of Carlsbad and Oceanside.<\/p>\n
She said leadership starts from the ground up, citing participation in local elections as a powerful force for change. Looking ahead to the midterm elections, she hopes these demonstrations remind residents that their vote matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope this encourages you to become involved in your local politics and get engaged, because it won\u2019t change if we don\u2019t express it and make it felt that there needs to be a change,\u201d Slack said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore problems have developed since the last No Kings,\u201d she added. \u201cThings aren\u2019t settling down, they\u2019re ramping up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fran and Bud Tovar, both Oceanside residents, said they came out because they believe silence is no longer an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour opinion matters, and this is too important to not be active in it,\u201d said Fran, 78, who grew up protesting in the 1960s.<\/p>\n
Bud, 80, a Vietnam veteran, said he didn\u2019t serve overseas to see democracy erode at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t go to Vietnam to put up with his nonsense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Both said they worry fear is discouraging voter participation and urged people to stay engaged ahead of upcoming elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to speak up. We have to stand up. We have to fight for our democracy,\u201d Fran said.<\/p>\n
Organizers of the No Kings movement say the protests began in June 2025 as a single day of mass mobilization, drawing millions nationwide to oppose what they describe as authoritarian actions by President Trump.<\/p>\n
A second day of protest in October drew more than 7 million people participating in thousands of events across all 50 states.<\/p>\n
The group frames the demonstrations as a peaceful, grassroots response to a range of concerns, including aggressive immigration enforcement, misplaced federal spending priorities, threats to voting rights and the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n
Organizers are planning another round of demonstrations in May.<\/p>\n
Ava Nassar, a 13-year-old middle schooler from Carlsbad, was with friends and classmates Nathan Adewale, 13, and Dante Veducio, 14.<\/p>\n
Nassar said she attended the demonstration partly as a school assignment on the First Amendment, but also out of a sense of responsibility. She has family in southern Lebanon who were forced to relocate due to Israeli missile strikes.<\/p>\n
Watching the news is difficult, she said, but it also reinforces her belief in speaking out.<\/p>\n
Asked about her generation\u2019s role right now, she said it\u2019s important to stay informed and know right from wrong, \u201cand not just being a follower \u2014 standing for what you believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the downtown rally, signs denouncing both the war in Iran and the powerful people linked to Jeffrey Epstein were among the most numerous, with several combining both topics to suggest the war is a distraction from the Epstein files and Trump\u2019s links to the billionaire financier and convicted sex offender.<\/p>\n
Labor unions and other groups set up tents and canopies close to the rally. One of the largest displays featured bloodied bundles of white cloth spread across the grass like a makeshift graveyard.<\/p>\n
Aimee Werth, with the San Diego chapter of CODEPINK, a feminist grassroots anti-war organization, said the bundles represented the children and babies killed in Gaza \u2014 a war led by Israel but supported by the U.S. \u2014 but that they could have just as easily represented the Iranian schoolgirls killed by a U.S. missile strike on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re against our tax dollars being laundered to fund the military-industrial complex,\u201d she said. \u201cWe think our tax dollars need to stay here and we should not, obviously, be killing children in other countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t agree to this, and we think most Americans don\u2019t agree to this,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Many of the speakers at the rally also spoke against the war in Iran, as well as the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in San Diego County \u2026 we are not going to stand silently by while kids and families can\u2019t put food on the table because we\u2019re fighting wars in Iran that are driving up oil prices and making it impossible for people to make ends meet,\u201d County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said.<\/p>\n
Alondra Alvarez, a community educator with Universidad Popular, said her grassroots community organization works with families affected by immigration enforcement. She warned the crowd that\u00a0\u201cthere is a militarization that is brewing in our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crystal Irving, the president of SEIU Local 221, which represents more than 13,000 government workers in San Diego County, said the No Kings movement \u201cis an opportunity to come together from all walks of life, no matter who you are, who you love, what ZIP code you grew up in, what ZIP code you currently reside in, no matter the color of your skin or the texture of your hair \u2014 we get to come together and fight and advocate together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federal of Labor Unions, spoke last at the rally.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we\u2019re going to defeat Trump, that\u2019s important, but it\u2019s equally important to beat the big tech billionaires that put him into office,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just Trump that\u2019s terrorizing immigrants, it\u2019s the companies that find where they are and surveil us and send ICE agents out to terrorize our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez told those gathered Saturday morning to ignore anyone who says the No Kings rallies around the county and around the country don\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is practice \u2014 because in November, when Trump tries to upend our elections and keep us from counting (votes) \u2026 you\u2019re going to show up and you\u2019re going to show up in force,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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