Protesters have gathered in several United States cities for “No Kings” demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, education and security, with organisers saying they expect more than 2,600 events across the country.
Saturday’s rally is the third mass mobilisation since Trump’s return to the White House and comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programmes and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organisers warn are a slide towards US authoritarianism.
The rallies started outside the US, with a couple of hundred protesters gathering outside the US embassy in London, and hundreds more holding demonstrations in Madrid and Barcelona.
By Saturday morning in Northern Virginia, many protesters were walking on overpasses across roads heading into Washington, DC.
Many protesters are especially angered by attacks on their motivations for taking to the streets. In Bethesda, Maryland, one held up a sign that said: “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting.”
Trump himself is away from Washington at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview broadcast on Friday.
More than 2,600 rallies are planned on Saturday in cities large and small, organised by hundreds of coalition partners.
A growing opposition movement
While the earlier protests this year – against Elon Musk’s cuts in spring, then to counter Trump’s military parade in June – drew crowds, organisers say this one is building a more unified opposition movement.
Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders are joining in what organisers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, a cofounder of Indivisible, among the key organisers.
Before noon, several thousand people had gathered in New York City’s Times Square, chanting “Trump must go now”.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it has given legal training to tens of thousands of people who will act as marshals at the various marches, and those people were also trained in de-escalation.
Republicans have sought to portray participants in Saturday’s rallies as far outside the mainstream of US politics, and a main reason for the prolonged government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists”.
They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch – we call it the Hate America rally – that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types”, people who “hate capitalism”, and “Marxists in full display”.
In a Facebook post, former presidential contender Sanders said, “It’s a love America rally”.
Dana Fisher, a professor at American University in Washington, DC, and the author of several books on US activism, forecast that Saturday could see the largest protest turnout in modern US history – she expected that more than 3 million people would participate, based on registrations and participation in the June events.
“The main point of this day of action is to create a sense of collective identity amongst all the people who are feeling like they are being persecuted or are anxious due to the Trump administration and its policies,” Fisher said. “It’s not going to change Trump’s policies. But it might embolden elected officials at all levels who are in opposition to Trump.”
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