By Eric Young and Mary Shinn
The Gazette
Large crowds gathered throughout Colorado on Saturday to oppose the Trump administration, with separate demonstrations occurring in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Monument in El Paso County.
As with previous “No Kings” protests, thousands of people from a variety of ages and backgrounds assembled — with some donning elaborate costumes, some toting personalized signs and many doing both — to express their growing frustrations with actions by the Trump administration and a lack of justice resulting from the files of human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
New areas of focus on Saturday afternoon included the death of two American citizens by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis in January and the U.S.-Israel war with Iran that began last month.
Nationwide, an estimated 8 million people gathered across 3,300 events, with the largest turnout occurring in Minneapolis at over 200,000.
Elsewhere in El Paso County, Manitou Springs and Monument held demonstrations earlier in the day, each drawing hundreds of people. It marked the first time Monument held a No Kings protest.
In Colorado Springs, thousands of protesters gathered downtown in front of City Hall, along with over 30 information booths, speakers and musical performers filling the sidewalks of Nevada Avenue from Uintah Street to Pikes Peak Avenue.
On the street, a frequent chorus of honking vehicles passing in approval, and sometimes disapproval, of the protesters’ messages could be heard.
A Trump supporter drives by the No Kings rally on Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (The Gazette, Michael G. Seamans)
Rowan Mayfair, a U.S. Army veteran and member of the nonprofit “About Face: Veterans Against the War,” said the decision to go to war with Iran was the latest example of starting “another forever war.”
“We have seen this before. We were told (that) invading Iraq would make us safer. It didn’t. We were told it was necessary. It wasn’t. What it did do was destroy lives,” she said. “In the past month … 13 U.S. service members have been killed, one of them right here in Fort Carson.”
Some veterans said they came out to protest, in part, because of the war in Iran and its potential to escalate.
The conflict in Iran that started in late February is illegal, ruining the economy and holding the world hostage, said Molly Hail, who served in the Navy from 2015-2021. The conflict has closed the Straight of Hormuz, a shipping lane for about 20% of the world’s oil.
She would like to see the world transition to renewable energy to help end reliance on oil and reduce conflict globally.
“If we can get on renewable energy, we wouldn’t be beholden to all these oil wars,” she said.
The Colorado Springs resident said she recently got involved in activism against the Trump administration.
“It’s just been getting so bad for so long, it was time to do something,” Hail said.
Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal during his first term in 2018 led, in part, to our current problems, said Perry Luckett, who helped found El Paso County Colorado Progressive Veterans. The deal allowed international inspectors to ensure Iran wasn’t enriching uranium for nuclear arms.
“The first thing that Trump does is destroy what is without a clue how to repair it or replace it,” said Luckett, an Air Force veteran and former Air Force Academy instructor.
Since the deal ended, the U.S. has been “floundering” with its Iran policy, he said. But he doesn’t believe the conflict will achieve anything, and it has gotten off to a poor start.
“It was launched without the will of the American people or the Congress,” he said.
He expects America will have to restart negotiations.
“You have to do it if you want a peaceful Middle East,” he said.
Those who have cheered the war include U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Grand Junction, who said the U.S. was standing up to the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism.
“I support President Trump’s decision to take decisive action to hold the Iranian regime accountable and to degrade its ability to threaten Americans and our allies,” he said on social media in the immediate aftermath of the start of the war.
Despite arguments and profane exchanges between Colorado Springs protesters and some passersby, the protest accomplished its goal and remained nonviolent.
Josh, a counter-protester who declined to give his last name, said he is a former Democrat who attended the previous protest at America the Beautiful Park and that he decided to “see all of these people come out here and act like a baby.”
“There was a little back-and-forth, word-wise, (over) there, but so far, everybody’s been pretty cool,” he said.
A woman confronts young people smoking the tires on their bikes as people gather for the No Kings rally on Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (The Gazette, Michael G. Seamans)
He voiced his approval of expanding the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to deport people living in the country illegally and beginning the Iran war.
He added that he agreed with the protesters that the federal government should reveal and hold to account all of the people in positions of power found in the collected Epstein files.
“I want to see all the files come out. You know, I think that’s something that they (the protesters) just assume that all of us people that are on the other side don’t want to see too. But that’s just not the case.
“And if it comes out that Trump was in it, (expletive) lock that (expletive) up.”
Among the others to speak was Sky Roberts, a Colorado Springs resident and relative to the late sex-trafficking victim of Epstein, Virginia Giuffre, who echoed this point of greater accountability regarding the files.
“We are not talking about politics. We are talking about the abuse of children,” he said. “We are talking about survivors who have waited years to be heard.”
Thousands of people gather for the No Kings rally on Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (The Gazette, Michael G. Seamans)