WASHINGTON — Large crowds took to the streets Saturday in the nation’s capital for the third No Kings protest, rallying with others across the United States against what organizers say is an unprecedented expansion of power by President Donald Trump.
Thousands of people carrying signs and playing music began the day at Memorial Circle below Arlington National Cemetery. Crowds exiting the cemetery Metro stop clogged exit gates as they flowed toward Arlington Memorial Bridge into the district.
A dense crowd already was packed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool by late Saturday morning. Hundreds moved to the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol by late afternoon for a separate Remove the Regime rally, where numerous speakers, including former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, urged Congress to impeach the president. Dunn, who is running for Congress in Maryland in 2026, was on duty during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
No Kings day in Washington, D.C. (Video by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
No Kings day national organizers anticipated more than 3,000 demonstrations across the United States, in every congressional district, and worldwide marches were organized on six continents, according to Logan Keith, a No Kings day organizer and national communications coordinator for the advocacy group 50501.
No notable instances of violence or conflict with counter-protesters were reported by late Saturday afternoon.
The previous national No Kings demonstration in October drew millions of Americans to the streets, and Saturday’s protests were expected to as well. States Newsroom’s live blog from Saturday includes reports and photos from across the nation.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the nation’s flagship event, tens of thousands were gathering around the state Capitol, the Minnesota Reformer reported. Streets were clogged, buses packed and parking scarce well more than a mile away as throngs — dressed in layers and carrying homemade signs with messages like “No War” and “1776” — streamed toward the Capitol.
Headliners and speakers were expected, such as Bruce Springsteen — who will sing his new song “Streets of Minneapolis” — as well as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, Jane Fonda, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and more.
In the months since the previous No Kings rallies, the Trump administration sent thousands of federal agents into Minneapolis, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, on Jan. 7.
Just over two weeks later, Customs and Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti, also 37 and a U.S. citizen.
In recent months, many high-profile violent encounters between federal law enforcement and the public circulated widely on social media and in news reports. One notable video captured ICE agents violently pulling Bangladeshi American Aliyah Rahman from her vehicle as she told the officers she was disabled, according to her testimony before lawmakers on Capitol Hill in February.
Other high-profile arrests have occurred across the country, including in Nashville, Tennessee, where ICE agents arrested the 35-year-old journalist, Estefany Rodriguez Florez, despite her pending asylum application. Florez and her husband, a U.S. citizen, had just dropped their 7-year-old child at school before the arrest.
Bigger crowds
Crowds at the Washington, D.C., No Kings march noticeably were larger compared to October’s march. Rallygoers carried signs protesting Trump’s mass deportation campaign, increases in health care costs and the administration’s heavy redactions of the Epstein files.
A speaker rallying the crowd at the Virginia side of the Arlington Memorial Bridge urged participants to vote in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
“Let’s get our march on, let’s fight,” he said.
Across the country, messages against Trump’s monthlong war in Iran also featured prominently. The president launched joint operations with Israel on Feb. 28 that has since spread across the Middle East and caused an oil shortage crisis worldwide.
So far 13 American service members have died, and more than 300 have been injured, including 15 wounded Friday after an attack on a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia.
In the Washington, D.C. march, Robyn Abshire Sims, 52, of Virginia, carried a sign reading “Impeach. Remove. Convict. 25th Amendment Now.”
“I am here to be in solidarity with the masses. They have no idea how many of us there are,” she said. “Donald Trump needs to be removed, right now.”
Ezra Bermudaz, who is in his 40s and lives in northern Virginia, said the administration is “unprofessional” and that it is alienating Americans from their government.
“A real good politician, make us feel like we’re part of it. Right now, it feels like we’re not part of it,” he said. “… I don’t activate, I’m not a protester, but it really does suck.”
David Landolfi attended the D.C. march dressed in his U.S. Marine fatigues bearing his name. The retired veteran of 26 years deployed with the 2nd Marine Division to Vietnam at the end of the war, and later to Lebanon.
“I wanted all the other people here to know that I was in the military, and the military do support a lot of things that I’m supporting today,” said Landolfi, 72, of Annapolis, Maryland.
“Most military men and women are not in support of war. And that was a promise that (Trump) made, that we wouldn’t be in any more wars. And, well, that’s not happening,” he said.
The White House released a statement ahead of Saturday’s rally criticizing the event and the media. President Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday. According to the traveling press, he visited his golf club nearby but made no public statements.
“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in the written statement to media Friday.
IN THE STATES
Minnesota
The Twin Cities rally that included A-list performers was expected to draw 100,000, the Minnesota Reformer reported.
The Minnesota event was a nationwide focus after the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. Minnesota was the site of a plethora of documented violations of civil and constitutional rights, including the deaths of Good and Pretti.
Arkansas
In more rural, Republican-leaning areas, the demonstrations gave some protesters a sense of community.
“It feels almost unreal when you live in a community that is so red, and then you see everyone come together like this,” first-time protester Nadia Washburn of Stuttgart, Arkansas, told the Arkansas Advocate. “It makes you feel like your feelings are valid.”
Michigan
Democratic elected officials took part in several events, including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Detroit. Her emotionally charged speech criticized not only the actions of Trump and ICE but also Democrats who have not done enough to protect the community, the Michigan Advance reported.
Indiana
A rally at the Indiana Capitol attracted lifelong Democrats, former Republicans and independent voters who are disaffected with the two-party system in general and Trump in particular, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
Tennessee
In Nashville, which was the center of an ICE operation last year, several organizers spoke and mostly delivered strong messages against the immigration enforcement agency, the Tennessee Lookout reported.
Kansas
A demonstration in the Kansas City suburbs of Johnson County stretched 6 miles down a thoroughfare, the Kansas Reflector reported.
Pennsylvania
In addition to massive rallies in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, dozens of smaller demonstrations took place across the commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported.
Several hundred Pennsylvanians gathered in Reading, where ICE is planning to establish a 1,500-bed detention facility.
Nebraska
Many protesters in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, held anti-Trump signs or American flags, while others wore costumes, the Nebraska Examiner reported. Volunteers from different groups gathered signatures for ballot initiatives and at least one candidate.
New Hampshire
Crowds across the Granite State protested the administration and the war in Iran, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported.
Janet Adams, a former middle school science teacher from Woodstock, New Hampshire, said she attended her first rally Saturday because of concern for the young people in her life. At 74, she was frustrated with what she saw as a lack of progress, and cited the Iran war and “hate” in national politics as part of what made her concerned for the futures of her 10 grandchildren.
Iowa
Thousands of Iowans gathered at the state Capitol, protesting against Trump and Iowa Republicans for issues like the war in Iran, ICE action and discrimination against transgender Americans, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
Maine
Many attendees at the Portland, Maine, protest expressed anger at Trump’s ongoing war on Iran, and his deportation efforts — which became much more real for many in Maine during a weeks-long surge in January — as well as the lack of action from Congress to deter him, the Maine Morning Star reported.
South Dakota
About 200 people showed up in South Dakota’s capital city of Pierre, one of a dozen rallies in the small, Republican-led state, including places such as Aberdeen, Vermillion and even White River, a town of just over 500 people, South Dakota Searchlight reported.
Idaho
Many speakers at the protest in Boise localized their frustrations with the Republican-dominated state Legislature over the latest in a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and years of not changing the state’s strict abortion ban, even as doctors have left the state, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
North Carolina
Opposition to the Trump administration’s use of military force in Iran and Venezuela and threats against Cuba and Greenland dominated the protest, which lasted around three hours and blocked off traffic in downtown Durham, North Carolina, for much of the morning, NC Newsline reported.
West Virginia
A sea of protesters holding signs and American flags filled the space in front of the state Capitol in Charleston. They lined both sides of the street and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.” Some drivers honked their support as they passed by, West Virginia Watch reported.
