Thousands protested condemning President Donald
Trump's administration in the 'No Kings' movement, showcasing creative signs
and costumes.
Protesters from cities around the nation, including San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, marched in what organizers called the president's "authoritarian power grabs" in what is predicted to be one of the biggest nonviolent demonstrations in American history. In an interview with Fox News on Friday, the president emphasized that he is "not a king."
Four months after the initial "No Kings" protests in June, which were mainly nonviolent and saw few arrests, Saturday's large-scale demonstrations took place. Demonstrators used strong signs and clothing choices to express their dissatisfaction with the nation's current situation.
As one Washington, DC protester declared on a sign:
“Less fascism! More fashion!”
Here are some of the best signs and outfits captured at the “No Kings” protests.
One rally-goer in the nation’s capital held up a sign that read:
"All of my outrage can't fit on this sign."
Another DC protester, dressed in an inflatable unicorn suit, held up a poster stating:
“The threat to democracy is real. (I am not.)”
Meanwhile, in New York City, thousands filled Times Square. Randi Weingarten, the union president of the American Federation of Teachers, remarked on the masses in New York City, telling the crowd in DC:
“There are so many people who want to fight for our democracy and say no kings. And what I have just been told, that in New York City, there are more people at Times Square than there are on New Year's Eve.”
An estimated one million people watched the ball drop from Times Square last year, CBS New York reported. The Independent has asked organizers for turnout estimates.
A girl protesting in Times Square held up a colorful sign reading:
“Little girls against big egos.”
Another rally-goer sported sunglasses, a hat supporting mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and a yellow shirt emblazoned with “Antifa.”
Others displayed inflated frog costumes, a nod to the Portland "Antifa frog" that has been at the forefront of protests in Oregon for the past few weeks near the city's ICE facility. In a humorous contrast to the way Trump administration officials have described demonstrators at the liberal city's gatherings, film from earlier this month showed federal officers pepper-spraying the demonstrator wearing a frog suit.
On Saturday, a number of well-known people gave speeches at rallies around the nation.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, warned the rally attendees in Washington, D.C., that the American experiment is now "in danger."
He said:
“We rejected the divine right of kings in the 1770s. We will not accept the divine right of oligarchs today.”
The president, who spent the day in Palm Beach, Florida, had not publicly addressed the issue of the protests at the time of publication.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stated Friday that protests were "as American as motherhood, baseball, and apple pie," while prominent Republicans referred to the "No Kings" events as "Hate America" rallies. A hot dog in Nashville and a lobster in Boston were among the additional things that some protesters added to that list.
How organizers promoted costume themes for the No Kings rallies?
The "No Kings" rallies were organized, in part, to
promote costume themes by using social media, community groups, and local
activists to inspire symbolic, imaginative representation of the movement's
message against authoritarianism.