“No Kings” protesters gathered from coast to coast, holding signs, chanting and donning elaborate costumes on Saturday, capping off the third such coordinated demonstration against President Donald Trump‘s actions and policies amid his second term. More than 3,000 events were expected throughout the nation.
Protesters rallied on March 28 in California, Tennessee, Ohio, New Jersey, Delaware, Florida, Texas, Washington, D.C., and other locations. The flagship U.S. rally in Saint Paul, Minnesota, included notable names such as the state’s Gov. Tim Walz, Sen. Bernie Sanders, legendary actress Jane Fonda, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and a performance of “Streets of Minneapolis” from Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen.
Demonstrators flocked to protests around the country to march, stand in crowds or line main streets. They chanted, waved signs and cheered as cars drove by honking in support. Some passed out water and sign-making supplies, or even set up lawn chairs, supporting the effort however they could.
In the nation’s capital, demonstrators gathered around a group of musicians banging on drums, and some overturned buckets, chanting to the rhythm: “Hey Congress, do your job!” A Palestinian flag was seen waving among the crowd. One person even came dressed in an inflatable Pikachu costume; another wore red “Handmaid’s Tale” robes.
“NO KINGS, YAS QUEENS!” one colorful sign said at a demonstration in Nashville, Tennessee. “He’s gone too far,” read another in Reno, Nevada.
Robin Gillis, 73, joined a gathering that lined a street in West Bloomfield, Michigan, holding in one hand a sign that said “We the People have had enough!” and in the other, the leash for her English Setter, Elly.
“We love America, and we are the real patriots, here,” she told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
When previously asked to comment on the “No Kings” protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded: “The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.”
Coordinated international “No Kings” protests were also held Saturday, including in Rome.
Contributing: Reuters
Paris Barraza
A Los Angeles Police Department officer estimated that 50 to 60 people were being detained near the Metropolitan Detention Center, roughly an hour after the LAPD declared an unlawful assembly in the area.
A USA TODAY Network reporter observed at least a dozen people zip-tied along Alameda Street, near the detention center. Authorities appeared to be searching some of their belongings around 7 p.m. PDT on March 28. Earlier, officers were seen loading several people into a vehicle along the same stretch of street.
The Department of Homeland Security said Saturday that two people were arrested for assaulting federal law enforcement, Reuters reported. DHS said two officers were hit with cement blocks and were receiving medical care in the incident at the Roybal Federal Building, which is adjacent to the detention center.
In a post on X earlier that day, LAPD said protesters along Alameda Street between Aliso and Temple streets had been warned multiple times by federal authorities not to attempt to tear down a gate or throw objects. The department said federal authorities were using non-lethal measures to push the crowd back.
The Metropolitan Detention Center sits between Aliso and Temple streets. Graffiti protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump covered walls and sidewalks along Alameda Street, though it was unclear when the vandalism occurred.
LAPD later said none of its officers were involved in the crowd management measures.
Paris Barraza
Police have declared an unlawful assembly near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, urging people to avoid the area, according to a public safety alert issued Saturday evening.
The alert said the Los Angeles Police Department had declared the unlawful gathering along Alameda Street between Aliso Street and Temple Street.
More than two dozen people gathered at the intersection of Commercial Street and Alameda Street, where LAPD officers blocked access farther south on Alameda. Additional officers were visible farther down the street, though it was not immediately clear whether they were city or federal law enforcement.
NBC4reported that federal officers are taking some demonstrators into custody near the detention center and have deployed tear gas.
The detention center was also the site of clashes between protesters and authorities in January during demonstrations over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Paris Barraza
Hundreds of people marched along Spring Street in Los Angeles on March 28, following a large gathering of protesters outside Los Angeles City Hall that involved live performances. Among the chants coming from the crowd: “ICE out of LA” and “This is what Democracy looks like.”
Hundreds of people were outside Los Angeles City Hall just before 2:30 p.m. PT, where a “No Kings” protest was unfolding.
Protesters were setting up a large inflatable of President Donald Trump as others played music and walked around with various signs, some of which called for the impeachment of the president, supported immigrants and called for taxing billionaires.Jenny Henry was among those in attendance in support of the protest. She said Trump embodies 40 years of Republican leadership. Henry added that Republicans “can’t take responsibility for their bad ideas.””Trump really embodies the bigotry and the hatred,” Henry said. “They’ve run out of people to hate and blame, and it’s just impossible for them to take responsibility. I’m just tired of it.”Immigration was among her main reasons for attending the protest in Los Angeles.”Accented English is my favorite language,” Henry said, tearing up.”It’s only the food and the accent that changes,” Henry said. “We’re all the same. Everybody needs to do the dishes. Everybody needs to get to school and make lunches and go to work.”
Jonathan Limehouse
A giant copy of the U.S. Constitution was carried through downtown Houston as demonstrators joined the nationwide “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump and his policies and actions.
Photos and video from Houston-based TV stations KHOU11 and Fox 26 show demonstrators in the city signing and carrying the large replica of the supreme law of the United States.
“I hope when people are signing this that they feel empowered that it’s a declaration to take back their power and to know that we’re all together and we are not alone in this,” Lucy Jackson, a demonstrator and artful activism coordinator for the Backbone Campaign, a left-progressive organization that uses creative activism to promote causes, told the Houston Chronicle.
Thousands of New Yorkers joined “No Kings” protest across the state on Saturday, March 28.
Kyle Werner
Protesters in Des Moines gathered at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, huddled in their hats and coats to keep warm, before they marched nearly two miles to the Iowa State Capitol building.
They held banners that blew in the brisk winds, which read “We the people are pissed off,” and “Declare war on the Epstein class,” while others held picket signs and posters decrying President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies, as well as the war against Iran, Trump’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein, the U.S. fuel blockade against Cuba and more. Many called for Trump’s impeachment.
Steve Rosenow, 73, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, and a Vietnam War veteran, has only worn his uniform three times since he came home, each for a “No Kings” protest. He held a sign that read “Time to Resist.”
“I think it’s time, especially for us veterans,” Rosenow said, “We’re starting a war that’s endless, that’s illegal. We need to stand up and say we won’t stand for it.”
Michaelyn Mankel, an organizer with the Iowa Party of Socialism and Liberation, yelled through her megaphone, her voice beginning to become hoarse as she led chants.
“They have led a war against the majority of people here in the U.S. — against working people. Against immigrants. Against women. Against the queer community,” Mankel said. “It’s not only shameful — we’ve had enough of it.”
Jonathan Limehouse
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, addressed the audience at the flagship “No Kings” protest in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday, March 28.
“In the United States of America, we pledge allegiance to the Constitution and the flag, not to a person or a king,” Omar said.
The U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District went on to say that President Donald Trump has not only “chipped away at our democracy,” but he has also “taken a wrecking ball to the very foundation of what makes America great.”
“He tried to intimidate Minnesotans, he tried to make us afraid, he has tried to divide us. But we stood strong,” Omar said. “We have had each other’s back, and we have never bent the knee.”
She added, “We do not cower to bullies, we are Minnesota strong.”
Jolene Almendarez, Victoria Moorwood and Gillian Stawiszynski
An afternoon protest at Cincinnati City Hall – where people made speeches about the economy, worker rights and voting access – kicked off Downtown Cincinnati’s No Kings event at 1 p.m. After speeches from people with local political groups, protesters marched together toward The Banks, a busy business district along the riverfront.
Saturday was Kentrell Gaulden’s first No Kings protest.
“I believe everybody deserves freedom and I feel like Trump is doing a lot of wrong,” the 25-year-old said. “I feel as if this road continues to happen, bigger problems will happen.”
At The Banks, some protesters clashed with Trump-supporting baseball fans who had gathered there ahead of the Cincinnati Reds evening game.
The fans chanted “USA!” and “Trump!” in response to protesters shouting, “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state!”
Legal observers dressed in high-visibility vests de-escalated an argument between a protester and a Trump supporter at The Banks.
Jonathan Limehouse
Legendary actress and activist Jane Fonda spoke at the flagship “No Kings” protest in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on March 28, reading a letter from Becca Good, the wife of Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman an ICE agent fatally shot in January during Operation Metro Surge.
Before reading Becca Good’s letter, Fonda shouted, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Minnesota.”
She then began to read: “I’m so proud to call Minneapolis my home. I can’t stop talking about how absolutely beautiful it is to see how Minnesota shows up for its people. I want to thank you for how you’ve shown up for me (and) how you’ve shown up and shown out for all the people victimized by this horrible moment in history.”
Fonda, reading the letter, said, “The world now knows that my wife sparkled with sunshine… We were robbed of an incredible human.”
“Renee and I believed that the love that’s needed to build a world where we care for everyone already exists,” Fonda read. “We can choose radical kindness.”
Eduardo Cuevas
In the nation’s second largest city, protesters planned to march through downtown Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon, according to the No Kings website.
“Peaceful protest is our constitutional right,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “When people come together to make their voices heard, that is democracy in action. Please stay safe and look out for one another.”
Organizers with 50501 SoCal expected tens of thousands to march, beginning at Los Angeles City Hall, a news release said. The demonstration planned to include a 20-foot-tall balloon of Trump wearing a diaper and a 15-foot-tall balloon of him donning a Russian military uniform.
“A lot of people want to help, they just don’t know where to start.” Emily Williams, a lead organizer for 50501 SoCal, said in a statement. “No Kings is that starting point.”
Caltrans issued a travel advisory with several ramp closures of U.S. Highway 101 in downtown Los Angeles. The state transportation agency said drivers should avoid the area or use alternate routes.
In an X post, the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday evening, encouraged fans to make extra time to get to Dodger Stadium, just north of downtown.
Noe Padilla and Kat Filardi
Thousands of protesters gathered outside of California’s Capitol in Sacramento as temperatures were in the high 70s.
“The No Kings rallies are here to be in community and to gain momentum, but the true, true reason is to activate people,” Olivia Park, an organizer with the No Kings coalition, said.
In cloudy San Francisco, a beach commonly used in protests had another message for the administration.
“Trump must go now!” read a human banner at Ocean Beach. Below, according to a San Francisco Chronicle video, in bold white letters on the sand, demonstrators displayed another message saying no to ICE, wars, lies and kings. Protesters could be seen holding an upside down American flag.
On the other side of the city, a protest that began along San Francisco’s Embarcadero was headed toward City Hall.
Jonathan Limehouse
Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, praised Minnesotans while speaking at the flagship “No Kings” protest at the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul on Saturday.
“In the face of unprecedented occupation of the city by ICE, Trump’s domestic army, this community stood up, and with extraordinary solidarity, fought back and won,” Sanders said at the rally.
Sanders added, “Minnesota showed the American people, and in fact the world, what democracy is about, what grassroots activism is about and what standing up for American ideals of freedom and justice is about.”
The senator also took time to remember Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were both fatally shot by federal officers in January during Operation Metro Surge.
“Today we remember and honor two brave Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who lost their lives in the struggle. We promise their families and their friends that these two heroes will not die in vain,” Sanders said. “Their sacrifice has inspired, and will continue to inspire, the American people in the never-ending struggle for justice.”
Sanders did take some shots at Trump, calling him a “pathological liar,” a “kleptocrat,” and a “narcissist who is undermining the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law every day.”
Jonathan Limehouse
Grammy-winning singer Bruce Springsteen sang “Streets of Minneapolis” at the flagship “No Kings” protest at the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul on Saturday.
“Well, this past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis; well, they picked the wrong city,” Springsteen said before singing about the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good amid Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota earlier this year.
The “Born in the U.S.A.” singer added, “The power and the solidarity of the people of Minneapolis, of Minnesota, was an inspiration to the entire country. Your strength and your commitment told us that this is still America.”
After performing the song in front of many teary-eyed demonstrators, Springsteen shouted “No Kings, No War,” before leaving the stage.
Jonathan Limehouse
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke at the flagship “No Kings” rally in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday, demanding justice for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were both fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis in January.
“We demand justice for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, we demand justice for every single person who was hurt or traumatized,” Walz said. “We will never forget what they did here.”
Walz also called Trump a “wannabe dictator” and accused the president of sending “untrained aggressive thugs to do damage to Minnesota,” a state he said, “where everyone belongs.”
The governor also spoke directly to the Minnesota’s immigrant community, saying they “add value to our state.” Additionally, he applauded Minnesotans for the various ICE protests that took place in January and February in his state: “It was Minnesota who said not on our watch.”
Eduardo Cuevas
Joy Moss, 70, pushed her walker down Seventh Avenue, ahead of thousands of demonstrators who spanned across several Manhattan blocks. She wore a pink sash that read “Vote” and “Resist” over her scarf and peacoat.
It wasn’t the first protest Moss, a poet and drug and alcohol abuse counselor who is disabled, has attended. Just over a month ago, she demonstrated against the National Park Service removing a Pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument, the historic landmark for LGBTQ+ rights.
“He’s using us as his pawns,” Moss said. “We don’t need a dictator. That’s why we’re out here.”
Theater artist Sarah Elizabeth Greer, 56, called the demonstration in Manhattan a “divine entanglement of democracy.”
“Well, we’re all one, and we’re all coming together to do the right thing,” Greer said, carting her two small dogs, Bijou and Jacques Tati, down Broadway. Two signs on her cart read “No barKING!” and “BITE the Power.”
At several points, marchers asked to take her picture. She happily obliged as the protest continued on to Times Square.
Jonathan Limehouse
As demonstrators gather across the country to rally against Trump’s actions and policies, counterprotests have popped up in support of the president amid his second term in office.
In Somerville, New Jersey, counterprotesters were spotted with signs reading “Liberals Suck” and “God Bless Charlie Kirk,” referencing the late conservative activist who was killed in September 2025.
In addition to counterprotesters in Somerville, a group of about 50 Trump supporters engaged in a verbal spat with “No Kings” protesters in West Palm Beach, Florida, CNN reports.
The pro-Trump demonstrators showed up with megaphones and mics and began arguing with the “No Kings” protesters. The Trump supporters also flashed “Proud Boys” caps, T-shirts and flags, according to the outlet.
Police officers were seen de-escalating the situation, as no arrests were made, according to the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Jeanine Santucci and Angele Latham
Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies are the third in a series of coordinated demonstrations in President Donald Trump’s second term. Organizers say the name of the protests refers to the Trump administration’s use of executive power. Organizers and protesters fear America is on a path toward authoritarian rule.
But the protests aren’t just about one issue, they say.
“Today, we are standing up against what is happening across the country – the illegal war in Iran, that people can’t afford groceries or fuel and have to choose between feeding their families and healthcare, the kidnapping of children, and the masked men executing American citizens in the street,” said Sarah Parker, 50501 National Coordinator and speaker at the Twin Cities No Kings Protest.
Ian Montgomery, a leader at the protest in Nashville, said the protest was organized because the country is “on the wrong trajectory.” Montgomery stood at the helm of a long line of women in red capes, mimicking the dystopian cape made famous by the novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” each bearing a sign with a name of someone mentioned in the plethora of documents left behind by convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“We’re here to protest (the Trump administration’s) series of constitutional abuses, like ICE on our streets, abducting people with no identification, no just cause. And they’re actively breaking the law at every moment they do not release the Epstein files related to elites in a pedophile ring,” Montgomery said.
Eduardo Cuevas and Seth Harrison
New York City’s “No Kings” protest saw some notable figures marching through midtown Manhattan on Saturday.
Academy Award winner Robert De Niro stood alongside the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who has frequently faced off against President Donald Trump.
In October, the Justice Department filed criminal charges against James that have since been thrown out successive times by federal judges.
As the main march went down 7th Avenue, a second demonstration went parallel, down Broadway. The second group stopped in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater, which houses “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a show that has repeatedly clashed with the Trump Administration.
“Show me what democracy looks like,” marchers chanted. “This is what democracy looks like.”
Jeanine Santucci
The Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul, Minnesota is home to the flagship event among the thousands of planned “No Kings” protests. On Saturday afternoon, rally-goers were gathering and marching in preparation for the main event to begin at 2 p.m. local time.
People waved U.S. flags and carried protest signs reading “Do you hear the people sing?” and “Minnesota Strong.”
In the state that earlier this year became a flashpoint of the tension over Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda, prominent figures are set to speak and perform, including musicians Bruce Springsteen, Maggie Rogers and Joan Baez; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; and actress Jane Fonda.
Watch live:Minnesotans protest against Trump, ICE
Joel Shannon
The number of planned demonstrations climbed to 3,300 ahead of Saturday’s rallies, up from about 3,100 just days before.
“No Kings is not just a big-city phenomenon; two-thirds of registrants come from outside major urban centers,” organizers said in a Friday email.
Shannon Marvel McNaught
Protesters gathered Saturday at the Wilmington Riverfront and lined Coastal Highway in Rehoboth Beach.
In Wilmington, Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester and Rep. Sarah McBride, both Democrats, spoke to protesters at Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park. In southern Delaware, a rally was planned for 1:30 p.m. at the Rehoboth Beach bandstand.
“No Kings” protests were also planned in Bethany Beach, Dagsboro, Milford, Dover and Newark.
Jeanine Santucci and Cole Behrens
A group of seniors joined a “No Kings” event in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday morning, part of larger planned events scheduled across central Ohio. Photos by the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, showed participants at the seniors-focused event lining a street in the city.
Lynn Odegaard, 82, who lives at the Ohio Living retirement community, said the way American democracy is “being gutted” concerns her.
“We hope we do what we can to change the complexion of what is going on in this country,” Odegaard said. “And if nothing else, to encourage people to get out and vote.”
Hannah Phillips
Diane Bowman, 78, of Tequesta, Florida, held a sign that said “Tyrants fall when people rise” at a demonstration in Palm Beach County on Saturday morning.
“People don’t pay attention,” she said. “And I’m afraid I was one of them.”
Bowman, a retired teacher who carpooled to the protest with a handful of neighbors, said she lived through the “hippie age” but didn’t feel compelled then to act then the way she feels now.
“I should have been protesting the Vietnam War, but instead I did nothing,” she said. “This is my contribution.”
She said she hadn’t encountered any counter-protesters yet – only the occasional “Trump truck” whose passengers screamed obscenities through open windows.
Bowman said she and her friends just shout back: “Love you!”
Sarah D. Wire
Organizers expect to see outrage over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and over the war with Iran, Indivisible Cofounder Leah Greenberg previously told USA TODAY. Indivisible is one of the organizers.
“We’re hearing an enormous number of folks who are just horrified by the launch of this war, by the way it’s driving up costs at home and by the way this administration is wreaking havoc and violence both at home and abroad and using in both cases our tax dollars that are taken from our health care and education to do it,” she said.
Greenberg said the purpose of the protests is to bring people together, make their displeasure known and build relationships that help them stay involved.
Jeanine Santucci
Protests got underway Saturday morning, with some scheduled as early as 9 a.m. and others scheduled to start throughout the day around the country.
“No Kings” demonstrations were scheduled to begin in Westfield, Vermont, at 9 a.m. ET; in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, at 9:30 a.m.; and Cadillac, Michigan, and Flatwoods, West Virginia, at 10 a.m.
The flagship rally in Minnesota is expected to start at 2 p.m. local time.
A protest in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was also underway Saturday morning with demonstrators lining a street holding signs as cars passed by.
Jeanine Santucci
The “No Kings” movement has spread across the globe, with a demonstration kicking off in Rome amid political tensions in Italy, Reuters reported.
An anti-war protest was also scheduled in Athens, Greece, on Saturday.
See the scene in Rome:
Phaedra Trethan
Saturday’s rallies will be filled with signs and chants, part of a long American tradition of art being intertwined with protest.
Whether it’s the 1754 “Join or Die” cartoon ahead of the American Revolution or posters highlighting people suffering during the AIDS crisis, protests have long used images to capture the country’s struggles. Art is also used to persuade the public.
The United States not only encourages artistic expression, it’s enshrined in the Constitution, under the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and assembly. That means “Americans are more familiar with this type of protest-activist art, and we might even take it for granted because we live with it all the time,” said Allison Rudnick, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
“It’s all around us in the public and the press,” she added. “Artists make their work with the public in mind.”
Read more on iconic American protest art.
Sarah D. Wire
After months at the center of increased immigration enforcement that drew thousands of people into the streets to challenge officers, Minnesota’s Twin Cities will host the main protest, featuring local politicians alongside musicians Bruce Springsteen, Maggie Rogers and Joan Baez; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; and actress Jane Fonda.
Marches starting at three locations will convene at the state Capitol to hear from a mix of local and national speakers at the main “No Kings III” protest.
The Twin Cities spent months pushing back on the Trump administration‘s mass immigration enforcement efforts, including coordinating patrols to warn neighbors of ICE’s movements and take care of families left behind or in hiding.
“We are going to be highlighting several of those people who were on the ground every day doing the hard work and sacrificing quite a bit while that was going on,” said Lisa Erbes, 69, co-leader of Indivisible Twin Cities.
Marc Ramirez and Eduardo Cuevas
“No Kings” rallies are planned in all 50 states and in Canada, Mexico and a handful of other countries abroad.
While the flagship event takes place in Minnesota’s Twin cities — where federal immigration officers fatally shot Alex Pretti and Renee Good at two separate January demonstrations — “No Kings” organizers expect it to be one of the largest single-day protests.
To find a “No Kings” demonstration, people can look through an interactive map at NoKings.org.
Here are where some of the country’s “No Kings” events are planned, from the nation’s capital to Fairbanks, Alaska: