Crowds gather at anti-Trump “No Kings” rallies across the United States and around the world

Crowds took to the streets Saturday in cities and towns across the country to vent their anger over President Trump’s policies in “No Kings” protests, which Republicans described as “hate America” ​​rallies.

People carrying signs with slogans such as “Nothing is more patriotic than protest” or “Resist fascism” gathered in New York City’s Times Square and rallied. By the thousands in parks in BostonAnd Atlanta and chicago. The demonstrators marched through the streets of Washington And downtown Los Angeles They picketed outside capital cities in several Republican-led states, a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and in hundreds of smaller public places.

Trump’s Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations and described them as “hate America” ​​rallies, but in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, huge banners bearing the preamble of the US Constitution “We the People” that people could sign, and protesters wore inflatable costumes, especially frogs, which appeared as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.

More than 2,700 demonstrations are planned from coast to coast, with at least one in every state and even near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

Organizers said the nationwide march attracted a larger number of people Similar events on June 14which was Mr. Trump’s birthday and Giant’s Day Military parade in the American capitalThe No Kings coalition said in a press release.

“The millions of people protesting are centered around a fierce love for our country. A country we believe is worth fighting for,” said Katie Bethel, executive director of MoveOn, an advocacy group that is part of the larger coalition.

The demonstrators said they were angry at the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants and the deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

Since then, Trump – who returned to the White House in January – has ordered the entry of National Guard troops Washington, DC and Memphis. Planned deployments chicago and Portland It has so far been blocked in the courts.

Protesters are also upset by Mr. Trump’s attacks on the media, Trials of his political opponents And a host of other behaviors that they consider authoritarian.

“The president believes his rule is absolute,” organizers of the “No Kings” campaign say on their website. “But in America, we have no kings and we will not back down in the face of chaos, corruption, and cruelty.”

“This president is a disgrace, and I hope there will be millions in the streets today,” Stephanie, 36, a hospital worker who did not give her last name, told AFP in the Queens borough of New York, where hundreds gathered in the morning.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Portland for a peaceful demonstration downtown. Later in the day, tensions rose as a few hundred demonstrators and counter-protesters showed up at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, with federal agents at times firing tear gas to disperse the crowd and city police threatening arrests if protesters blocked the streets.

The building has been the site of mostly small, nightly protests since June — the reason the Trump administration cited for trying to station National Guard troops in Portland, which a federal judge has at least temporarily blocked.

More than 10,000 people came to the Lafitte Greenway for the No King New Orleans march, organizers told CBS News. When asked how the numbers were tallied, they said it depended on responses to online invitations and other crowd counting procedures on the ground.

In Chicago’s Grant Park, Democratic Congresswoman Delia Ramirez led the crowd in a chant: “When I say people, you say power!”

“I hope this powerful voice is heard from here to Washington, D.C., and to every corner of this country,” Ramirez said. CBS Chicago I mentioned. “I am the proud daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, and I will never be ashamed of my roots.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker joined the demonstration.

In San Francisco Hundreds of people wrote “There is no king!” And other phrases with their bodies on the ocean shore. Hayley Wingard, who was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she also had never participated in a protest before. Only recently has she begun to view Trump as a “dictator.”

“I was actually OK with everything until I found out that the military invasion in Los Angeles and Chicago and Portland — Portland — bothered me the most, because I’m from Portland, and I don’t want the military in my city. That’s scary,” Wingard said.

in miami, one protester told CBS Miami They emerged to give a voice to those who feel they are the most marginalized in the country.

“I’m very concerned about the people who are not doing well in this country, the people who are being marginalized,” Roxanne Featherly said. “Hate [and] “I guess you could say the bipolarization we have.”

More than 1,500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, publicly recalling and citing the city’s history of protests and the crucial role they played in the American civil rights movement two generations ago, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s like we live in an America that I don’t know,” Jessica Uther, a mother of four, told the Associated Press. “It was very encouraging. I walked in and thought: ‘This is my people.'”

Outside the United States, crowds gathered in front of the US embassies in Berlin, Rome, Paris, and Sweden in solidarity with the demonstrators in the United States, and pictures show that they are carrying banners condemning fascism and dictatorships.

So far, the president’s reaction to the events has been muted.

“They say they refer to me as a king. I’m not a king,” he told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” in an interview that will air Sunday.

But senior lawmakers, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, rejected the event. Johnson called it a “hate rally for America.”

“You will bring together Marxists, socialists, Antifa advocates, anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democratic Party,” he told reporters.

Republican lawmaker Tom Emmer also used the phrase “I hate America” ​​and referred to participants as the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin activated the National Guard and announced a “significant increase in police presence” ahead of the planned events. He said protesters have the right to freedom of expression but that “does not include destruction of property, looting, vandalism, disruption of traffic or violence of any kind – for which there will be no tolerance.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott also said that the National Guard and public safety personnel would be sent to Austin to handle expected protests.

Leading Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer encouraged protesters to let their voices be heard.

“I say to my fellow Americans on No Kings Day: Don’t let Donald Trump and the Republicans scare you into silence. This is what they want to do. They are afraid of the truth.” Written on X. “Speak up, use your voice, and exercise your right to freedom of expression.”