Crowds start to gather for anti-Trump 'No Kings' rallies across the US

The first of what "No Kings" organisers expect to be more than 2,600 protest events began on Saturday in the United States and other countries, a mass mobilization against President Donald Trump's policies on immigration, education and security that organizers say are pushing the country toward autocracy.

The protests — big and little, in cities, suburbs and small towns across the US - follow mass demonstrations in June and reflect the frustration of opponents of an agenda that Trump has rolled out with unprecedented speed since taking office in January.

Saturday's rallies started outside the US, with a couple of hundred protesters gathering outside the US embassy in London, and roughly 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, D.C., and several hundred people gathered in the circle near Arlington National Cemetery, near where Trump is considering building an arch across the bridge from the Lincoln Memorial.

Since Trump took office 10 months ago, his administration has ramped up immigration enforcement, moved to slash the federal workforce and cut funding to elite universities over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies.

Residents in some major cities have seen National Guard troops sent in by the president, who argues they are needed to protect immigration agents and to help combat crime. "There is nothing more American than saying 'we don't have kings' and exercising our right to peacefully protest," said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, a progressive organization that is the main organiser of the "No Kings" marches.

Thousands of people participate in a 'No Kings' protest in Manhattan, New York City. AFP

Trump has said very little about Saturday’s protests. But in an interview with Fox Business aired on Friday he said that "they’re referring to me as a king — I’m not a king.”

More than 300 grassroots groups helped organise Saturday’s marches, Greenberg said. 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. No Kings ads and information have blanketed social media to drive turnout.

People participate in a 'No Kings' national day of protest in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday. AFP

Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat, have backed the marches along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump. An array of celebrities also has backed the movement.

In June, over 2,000 No Kings protests took place, mostly peacefully, on the same day that Trump celebrated his 79th birthday and held a military parade in Washington.

REPUBLICANS CLAIM PROTESTS ARE ANTI-AMERICAN

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, on Friday echoed a common refrain among the GOP on the No Kings protests.

"Tomorrow the Democrat leaders are going to join for a big party out on the National Mall,” Johnson said at a press conference on Friday. "They’re going to descend on our Capitol for their much anticipated, so-called No Kings rally. We refer to it by its more accurate description: The hate America rally.”

Other Republicans have blasted Democrats and marches like No Kings as motivating people to carry out political violence, especially in the wake of the September assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk, a close confidant of Trump and key members of his administration.

Dana Fisher, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and the author of several books on American activism, forecast that Saturday could see the largest protest turnout in modern US history — she expected that over 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.”

Reuters