Large protests against the Trump administration are taking place in cities across the United States, marking the third edition of No Kings rallies that have already drawn crowds in the millions.
Organizers say they are protesting policies imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, including the war in Iran, federal immigration measures and the rising cost of living.
“Trump wants to rule us like a tyrant. But this is America and the power belongs to the people, not to would-be kings or their billionaire friends,” the organizers said.
A White House spokesperson called the protests “therapy sessions for Trump’s derangement” and said the only people who care “are the journalists who are paid to cover them.”
Throughout the day on Saturday, protests took place in almost every major US city, including New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles.
Rallies filled the streets of downtown Washington DC throughout the afternoon, with crowds of people marching through the nation’s capital. Protesters lined the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and filled the National Mall.
As in previous editions of No Kings, protesters held up effigies of Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials, calling for their ouster and arrest.
One of No Kings’ signature protests took place Saturday in Minnesota, where two U.S. citizens — Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti — were killed by federal immigration agents in January. Their deaths sparked nationwide outrage and protests against the Trump administration’s immigration tactics.
Thousands of people filled the streets with signs on Saturday, and a plethora of prominent Democrats also took the stage in front of the state Capitol building in St. Paul.
Bruce Springsteen also took the stage and performed his anti-immigration song called “Streets of Minneapolis.”
Thousands of people also took over New York’s Times Square, marching through Manhattan’s Midtown neighborhood. The police had to close normally busy streets to make way for the crowds. In October, the New York Police Department said more than 100,000 people had gathered across the city’s five boroughs.
The protests did not go off without incident. In Los Angeles, two people were arrested for assaulting federal law enforcement, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In a statement to
Elsewhere in the city, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said “multiple arrests” were made after protesters failed to obey dispersal orders in an area near a federal prison.
Police confirmed that federal authorities used “non-lethal measures” to move crowds into the area, after warning protesters not to “attempt to demolish the gate and not to throw objects.”
Reuters reports that arrests also took place in Dallas, after “minor scuffles broke out” when counterprotesters blocked streets and disrupted the No Kings march.
The last No Kings rally, in October, drew crowds of nearly seven million people nationwide.
Several US states mobilized the National Guard, but organizers claimed the events were peaceful.
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has expanded the scope of presidential power, using executive orders to dismantle parts of the federal government and deploying National Guard troops in American cities over the objections of state governors.
The president also called on the administration’s top law enforcement officials to prosecute his perceived political enemies.
The president says his actions are necessary to rebuild a country in crisis and has dismissed accusations that he is behaving like a dictator as hysterical. “They consider me a king. I’m not a king,” he said in an interview with Fox News in October.
But critics warn that some of his administration’s actions are unconstitutional and pose a threat to American democracy.
Crowds gathered in big cities and small towns alike. No Kings rallies begin in Boston, Massachusetts, Nashville, Tennessee and Houston, Texas. Other protests in major cities are expected to break out throughout the day.
The streets are also lined with people in towns like Shelbyville, Kentucky, and Howell, Michigan, which have populations of about 10,000.
People hold signs protesting the war in Iran and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in neighborhoods.
American expatriates abroad are also gathering to protest. Crowds formed in Paris, London and Lisbon, where many held signs calling the president a “fascist” and a “war criminal,” and calling for his impeachment and removal from office.
