{"id":151388,"date":"2026-03-29T05:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/151388\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T05:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T05:46:09","slug":"thousands-gather-for-no-kings-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/151388\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands gather for \u2018No Kings\u2019 protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands gathered on Saturday at the Bethlehem Rose Garden for the Lehigh Valley\u2019s portion of the nationwide \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest, the third demonstration opposing President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and its policies.<\/p>\n

The event was organized by Indivisible Lehigh Valley Bethlehem<\/a>, a grassroots volunteer organization that advocates for issues including immigration enforcement, LGBTQ+ rights, environmental protection, public education and fair elections, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lead organizer Brooke McDermott delivered opening remarks at 3:00 p.m., and said nine million people participated in the last \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest in October<\/a>. She said organizers hoped to reach 11.5 million participants this time to meet the 3.5% rule.<\/p>\n

According to the Harvard Kennedy School<\/a>, the 3.5% rule \u2014 a concept used in political science research \u2014 suggests protests that engage 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.<\/p>\n

McDermott cited concerns including heightened police presence, the war with Iran, inflation, threats to civil rights and low minimum wage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have kings in America,\u201d she said. \u201cWe fought for that to be true. Our civil rights are obviously under attack, so it\u2019s so important that we\u2019re here today, exercising our First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said he attended because the Trump administration has interfered with the federal government\u2019s ability to help mayors achieve \u201cthe simple things,\u201d adding he wants to return to a time when mayors could focus on meeting residents\u2019 needs instead of attending protests.<\/p>\n

Despite his frustration, Tuerk said he remains hopeful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLook around you, this is where the hope is,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to make sure that this crowd continues to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the opening remarks, a rotation of speakers and musicians addressed the crowd throughout the afternoon.<\/p>\n

More than 50 Lehigh students attended, including about 20 members of Students Demand Action, a new campus group advocating for gun safety. Ahead of the protest, the club hosted a sign-making event and shared protest safety tips.<\/p>\n

Annika Lilja, \u201829, vice president of Students Demand Action, said the group hopes to see \u201ccommon sense\u201d gun legislation passed nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something so empowering, and honestly fun, about being a part of something that is bigger than yourself and our campus with a group of people who support this mission,\u201d Lilja said.<\/p>\n

Other protestors, including Bethlehem residents Dru Clark and Barbara Schulman, wore red, hand-knit hats with tassels. Clark said the hats reference Norwegian women who knitted red hats during World War II to protest Nazi occupation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clark said the idea spread nationwide after protesters in Minnesota began wearing them.<\/a> Schulman added that red yarn has been selling out across the country ahead of the protest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One protester, Cheyenne, a Lehigh County resident who felt uncomfortable giving her last name, held a sign depicting Nazi, Make America Great Again, Klu Klux Klan and Confederate hats alongside the phrase \u201cSame shit, different hat(e).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory repeats itself,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not seeing any change, and we\u2019re hoping that if we\u2019re out here they\u2019ll finally listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another protestor, who identified himself as \u201cThe Citizen,\u201d said he attended to advocate for a better society for his children. As the father of a 14-year-old daughter, he said he\u2019s especially concerned about what he sees as backsliding women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair that Donald Trump, who is supposed to be representing an entire country, doesn\u2019t support women,\u201d he said. \u201cI have three children who will soon be adults and able to vote. They need to live in a society where they\u2019re treated equally and fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deirdre Kamber Todd, a candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, also attended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kamber Todd said she hopes to see political change and that Americans shouldn\u2019t have to struggle for basic rights, including affordable housing, health care, food, bodily autonomy and the freedom to live privately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things should not even be up for discussion in America,\u201d Kamber Todd said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The protest concluded around 6 p.m., though many attendees lingered, continuing to hold signs and speak with others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands gathered on Saturday at the Bethlehem Rose Garden for the Lehigh Valley\u2019s portion of the nationwide \u201cNo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3946,153,155,154,1756,1197,50,295],"class_list":["post-151388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-4-min-read","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-events","tag-feature","tag-politics","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}