Protests Sweep All 50 States and Spread Abroad Amid a Prolonged Government Shutdown and Growing Fears of Executive Overreach
By Al Jazeera
In one of the largest coordinated demonstrations in recent U.S. history, millions of Americans poured into the streets on Saturday under the rallying cry “No Kings”, denouncing what they described as President Donald J. Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and the steady erosion of democratic checks and balances.
Organisers said more than 2,600 rallies took place across cities and towns nationwide, from New York to Los Angeles, and in solidarity gatherings overseas in London, Madrid, and Barcelona. The protests, involving a wide network of civil rights groups, unions, and civic organisations, mark the third mass mobilisation since Mr. Trump’s return to the White House.
The demonstrations unfolded against the tense backdrop of a government shutdown now in its eighteenth day, a political standoff that has crippled public services and deepened partisan divisions in Washington. Many protesters framed their action as a stand not only against policy decisions — on immigration, education, and security — but against what they view as a broader assault on American democracy.
“Democracy, Not Dictatorship”
By dawn, highways and bridges into Washington, D.C., were thronged with demonstrators carrying banners reading “No Kings in America” and “Democracy, Not Dictatorship.” In New York City, tens of thousands gathered in Times Square, chanting “Trump must go now!”
In Bethesda, Maryland, one protester held a placard that read: “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting.”
President Trump, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, downplayed the demonstrations. “They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he said in a Fox News interview aired Friday night.
But organisers and participants saw the protests as a collective rebuke of what they described as the president’s disregard for democratic norms
> “There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, cofounder of Indivisible, one of the primary groups behind the movement.
Prominent Democrats, including Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Bernie Sanders, joined the protests, calling for what they described as a “national reawakening.”
> “This is not a hate-America rally,” Mr. Sanders wrote on social media. “It is a love-America rally — one that defends the soul of our democracy.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it trained tens of thousands of volunteers to serve as legal observers and de-escalation marshals at marches across the country.
Organisers described the day as a turning point — not merely a protest against policy but a unifying statement of purpose for millions who feel disillusioned by the current political climate.
> “The main goal is to create a sense of collective identity among people who feel anxious or persecuted by this administration,” said Dana Fisher, a sociologist at American University and an expert on protest movements. “It might not immediately change Trump’s policies, but it will embolden elected officials at every level who oppose them.”
A Divided Response
Republican leaders dismissed the demonstrations as partisan theatre. House Speaker Mike Johnson referred to them as a “Hate America rally,” suggesting participants included “Marxists and antifa types.”
> “Let’s see who shows up for that,” Mr. Johnson said. “The far left is holding the government hostage.”
Nevertheless, early turnout estimates indicated a sweeping wave of participation. Professor Fisher forecast that more than three million Americans could have joined, making it one of the largest single-day protests in modern U.S. history.
As dusk settled, candlelight vigils glowed from coast to coast — in parks, on courthouse steps, and outside shuttered government buildings — as demonstrators sang and chanted, “No Kings, No Dictators, Only Democracy.”
For many, the message was simple yet profound: In a nation founded on the rejection of monarchy, they refuse to accept even the perception of a crown in the Oval Office.
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