Huge crowds took to the streets Saturday in all 50 U.S. states to express their anger at President Donald Trump's hardline policies in “No Kings” protests that Republicans derided as “Hate America” demonstrations.
From New York and Washington to smaller cities in Michigan and Trump's second home of Florida, demonstrations in the eastern half of the United States gathered pace ahead of similar events in the West.
More than 2,700 protests are planned from coast to coast, and organizers say they expect millions to attend.
“This is democracy!” chanted thousands of people at a protest in Washington near the National Mall, home to the city's landmarks.
“Hey, hey, ho, Donald Trump's gotta go!” said the protesters, many of them carrying American flags.
Protesters are up in arms over what they see as heavy-handed tactics since the Republican billionaire returned to the White House in January, including attacks on the media, prosecution of political opponents and a broad crackdown on immigration.
The US government shutdown is now in its third week, with the Trump administration laying off thousands of federal workers and lawmakers showing few signs of being ready to break the impasse.
Thousands of people flooded New York's Times Square, Boston Common and Chicago's Grant Park.
“I never thought I would live to see the death of my country as a democracy,” said 69-year-old retiree Colleen Hoffman. AFP while marching down Broadway.
“We are in a crisis: the cruelty of this regime, the authoritarianism. I feel like I can't stay at home and do nothing.”
In the New York borough of Queens, protesters carried colorful signs reading “Queens say no to kings” and “We are protesting because we love America and we want it back!” while some chanted: “We love our country, we can't stand Trump!”
In Los Angeles, organizers plan to float a giant Trump balloon in a diaper. They said they expect 100,000 people to attend.
So far, Trump's response to Saturday's events has been muted.
“They say they refer to me as a king. I'm not a king,” he told Fox News' “Sunday Morning Futures.”
But its top representatives were in more combative form, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling the day of protest a “demonstration of hatred of America.”
“They are going to bring together the Marxists, the socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democratic Party,” he told reporters.
Republican legislator Tom Emmer also used the phrase “I hate America” and referred to the participants as the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party.
'Country of equals'
Beyond the United States, the “No Kings” movement is even organizing events in Canada, and small protests were held Saturday in Malaga, Spain and Malmo, Sweden.
On Thursday, Deirdre Schifeling, political and advocacy director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said protesters wanted to convey that “we are a country of equals.”
“We are a country of laws that apply to everyone, of due process and of democracy. We will not be silenced,” he told reporters.
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the Indivisible Project, criticized the Trump administration's efforts to send the National Guard to American cities and crack down on undocumented immigrants.
Trump has ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis. Planned deployments in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have so far been blocked in court.
“It's the classic authoritarian playbook: threaten, smear and lie, scare people into submission,” Greenberg said.
Top Democratic senator Chuck Schumer encouraged protesters to let their voices be heard.
“I say to my fellow Americans this No Kings Day: Don't let Donald Trump and the Republicans bully you into silence. That's what they want to do. They're afraid of the truth,” he wrote on X on Saturday.
“Speak up, use your voice and exercise your right to freedom of expression.”
