Others said they were protesting the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown for violent tactics, racial profiling and killings of protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to have a presence and to make people aware of all the things that are going on in our country and all the injustices, especially with ICE, and the impact that it\u2019s having not only on our nation, but our local community and on our children in particular,\u201d said Crystal Cabrera, a Fresno attorney.<\/p>\n
Central Valley Indivisible, a grassroots organization, hosted Saturday\u2019s protest from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in partnership with the national \u201cNo Kings\u201d movement. According to the group\u2019s website<\/a>, the slogan is a nod to the idea that America is a country that belongs to the people, not a president who \u201cthinks his rule is absolute.\u201d<\/p>\n Organizer Myra Coble said that initial estimates indicate there were at least 6,000, who stretched along both sides of Blackstone Avenue between Nees and Minarets avenues near Home Depot.<\/p>\n Protesters carry a piece of art that depicts a deceased Statue of Liberty covered in the American flag.<\/p>\n (Melissa Montalvo\/Fresno Bee)<\/p>\n Coble said there were only a few minor disturbances, such as protesters blocking traffic and ignoring requests to staff off patches of grass that border the shopping plaza\u2019s parking lot.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve only been flipped off twice,\u201d said Madeline Chavez, a 30-year-old Fresno substitute teacher who attended the protest with her parents.<\/p>\n Several young people with Fresno Building Health Communities used the protest as an opportunity to gather signatures on behalf of the citizen-led \u201cMoving Forward Together\u201d coalition in favor of a Measure C renewal effort<\/a>. The group needs 22,000 signatures to get a ballot initiative before voters on the upcoming November 2026 ballot.<\/p>\n Protester holds sign about gas prices at Fresno\u2019s \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest near on Blackstone Avenue near River Park on Saturday March 28, 2026.<\/p>\n Fresno residents protest ICE<\/p>\n Similar to previous No Kings protests<\/a>, many residents came out to oppose the Trump administration\u2019s deportation efforts and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n Madera resident Jerry Fernandez said it was his first time at a No Kings protest. He said he came out to protest because was tired of the racial profiling with the immigration crackdown. He said he\u2019s noticed being treated differently over the years depending on when he was wearing his professional attire versus when he\u2019s wearing a Raiders shirt.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just crazy what\u2019s going on,\u201d Fernandez, 60, said. \u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Fernandez said he can\u2019t help but think of his dad, who came to the U.S. in the early 1950s as part of the controversial World War II-era Bracero program, which brought temporary Mexican workers to work in the country\u2019s agricultural fields on temporary visas. Around that time, in response to public pressures, President Dwight D. Eisenhower carried out a mass deportation known as \u201cOperation Wetback\u201d<\/a> starting in 1954 that resulted in the deportation of an estimated 1.1 million Mexican nationals.<\/p>\n \u201cI think about them all the time,\u201d Fernandez said of his parents.<\/p>\n Riley Talford, first vice president of the SEIU Local 521 attended the protest with a chartered bus full of union members.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did not vote for war. We did not vote for rising prices. We did not vote for Americans to not be taken care of. We did not vote for families to be ripped apart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Several protesters brought their dogs to the Fresno \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest at Blackstone and Nees avenues near River Park on Saturday, March 28, 2026.<\/p>\n![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7e45be7790e1906f33c40558eee8496c.jpeg\"\/)
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