Thousands of people gathered Saturday at anti-Trump “No Kings” demonstrations across Long Island. The 16 rallies were among more than 3,000 protests scheduled nationwide, where participants decried what they called overreach of executive power, as well as ramped-up immigration enforcement and the emergence of a new Middle East conflict.
Outside Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola, Halle Brenner-Perles, co-founder of Show Up Long Island, said the day stood as “a moment in history that people are going to want to be able to tell their grandchildren someday that they were part of.”
Protesters along Old Country Road held signs criticizing the administration of President Donald Trump while chanting, “No kings, no crowns, no thrones!” as passing drivers honked.
Dan Oppenheimer, 70, of Hempstead, said he was concerned about presidential actions that he said violate the Constitution, including recent military action overseas.
“It’s a balance between all three branches of government, and, in my opinion, he doesn’t believe in that,” Oppenheimer said of Trump.
Rachel Klein, founder of EngageLI, said around 2,000 people were registered for the Mineola rally with more expected to attend.
“Last time we were here was October, and things have gotten exponentially worse,” Klein said, noting immigration enforcement actions that have become a national political issue. Similar demonstrations last year came amid Trump’s escalating mass deportation campaign and cuts to health care and environmental protections.
Show Up Long Island, Engage Long Island, Long Island Network for Change and other grassroots groups organized the Island’s rallies.
Neither Nassau nor Suffolk County police departments reported any incidents or arrests at the protests.
Thousands of people crowded Times Square in Manhattan during one of multiple rallies in New York City. Credit: OLGA FEDOROVA/EPA/Shutterstock/OLGA FEDOROVA/EPA/Shutterstock
In New York City, multiple demonstrations were held in all five boroughs and drew “tens of thousands of people,” according to a New York Police Department statement. The largest was in midtown, where thousands met near Columbus Circle and marched down Seventh Avenue to Times Square, according to media reports.
The NYPD said they made no protest-related arrests. Demonstrators had dispersed, and related traffic closures ceased as of 6 p.m. Saturday, according to the statement.
 Assemb. Chuck Lavine (D-Glen Cove), a speaker at the Mineola protest, said, “It is powerful” that millions gathered simultaneously across the country.Â
Thousands participated in demonstrations across the Island on Saturday, including in front of the Supreme Court of Suffolk County in Riverhead. Credit: Thomas Hengge
Walter Gilbert, 73, of Riverhead, was one of nearly 200 demonstrators at Riverhead county center. He said protesting was a way to exercise his rights — rights he helped defend as a Vietnam-era Navy veteran.
Noting he disagrees with Trump’s decision to get involved in Iran, he said, “We shouldn’t be there. To me it’s like a beehive. You open it up, we’ve got a mess.”
Police were on hand at the demonstrations, including in South Huntington, but no incidents were reported. Credit: Rick Kopstein
More than 1,000 protesters packed Lake Street in Patchogue and occasionally were heckled by passersby, some of whom held Trump flags. One woman drove around a roundabout to curse at the demonstrators at least least four times.
There, Jim Kassebaum, 72, of Blue Point, criticized Rep. Andrew Garbarino for what he called a lack of public engagement and expressed disappointment over his stance on immigration enforcement. Protesters marched past the Republican congressman’s office, chanting, “Garbarino, do your job.”Â
“He’s not supported any kind of a compromise to get ICE to reform. This is wrong, the way that they treat people,” Kassebaum said, referring to agents that often conceal their faces with masks. “He has not challenged them because he’s afraid of Trump.”
Garbarino, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, did not respond to a request for comment.Â
Suffolk County Republican Committee chairman Jesse Garcia dismissed the demonstrations as “failed PR stunts” by Democrats that do little to influence political issues.
Alleging the protesters were paid, Garcia said in an interview Friday with Newsday the demonstrators merely “hoot and holler, make noise, disrupt intersections with identifying problems but with no real solutions.”
Garcia said there were no official GOP counter rallies planned. Instead, he said Republicans were going door-to-door to talk to voters ahead of midterm elections.
“People realize what a tough time it is, feeling a little helpless and hopeless and desperate,” said Allison Kanas, founder of Indivisible Long Island, dismissing the notion that demonstrations didn’t accomplish anything. “And that’s why we come together in community.”
Demonstrators also pushed back against claims that they were paid. Debbie Hooper, 73, of Greenport, joked that she hadn’t yet received a paycheck.
“We do it for the love of our country,” Hooper said
Nassau County Republican Committee chairman Joseph Cairo Jr. said in a Friday statement the party remained “focused on what truly matters to the families and taxpayers of our community: affordability and public safety.”
Organizers said events were registered in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, with more than 9 million people expected to attend. International demonstrations were set for Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The White House dismissed the planned protests as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.
Newsday’s John Valenti and Alek Lewis and The Associated Press contributed to this story.