“No Kings” protests

“No Kings” protests, rallies organized to protest the second presidency of U.S. Pres. Donald Trump that occurred on his birthday, June 14, 2025, during which time a military parade occurred in Washington, D.C. The protests, which were organized across about 2,100 sites in the U.S., were called “No Kings” rallies in reference to Trump’s allegedly antidemocratic policies, especially in light of tensions surrounding his administration’s crackdown on immigration and the president’s own statements about being a king. The demonstrations were one of the largest single-day protests to occur in U.S. history, with more than five million protesters in attendance.

Although protests were mainly concentrated in the United States, “No Kings” rallies occurred around the world. In countries that have a constitutional monarchy, such as the United Kingdom, the protests went by names such as “No Tyrants” or “No Dictators.” While “No Kings” protesters mobilized, Trump attended his 79th birthday celebration, which featured a military parade to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army.

Organization and scope

“No Kings” protests were largely organized by liberal organizations within the United States, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), MoveOn, and American Opposition. Although the June 14 protests were the largest to occur under this banner, the first “No Kings” protests occurred in April 2025. The “No Kings” moniker was coined by the progressive group 50501 Movement, which on its website emphasizes the “3.5% rule”—the idea that if 3.5 percent of a population becomes involved in a movement, significant political change may be achieved. Major cities such as Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia saw large-scale demonstrations, and sizable protests occurred in smaller cities and suburban locales. In Philadelphia alone, about 100,000 protesters marched. Attendees waved American flags and signs that called for democracy over fascism.

While the majority of protests were peaceful, some were deemed unlawful assemblies, and law enforcement used violent dispersion tactics at a number of rallies. In Los Angeles and Seattle, for example, police used tear gas to scatter protesters. Los Angeles had already been the site of widespread unrest in response to federal immigration raids, and Trump had ordered the National Guard to report to the city on June 7, 2025, to protect federal immigration officers from what he termed a “rebellion.” This, coupled with “No Kings” protests, led to violent scenes; police, many on horseback, sometimes used batons and tear gas on protesters, whom they claimed were throwing bricks and fireworks at law enforcement officials.

In Minnesota an armed assassin killed a Democratic state representative and her husband and gravely wounded a state senator and his wife in the hours before the protests were scheduled to occur. As state and federal law enforcement staged a manhunt for the shooter, who was considered armed and dangerous, many “No Kings” events were canceled, and Gov. Tim Walz encouraged protesters to stay indoors. However, thousands of demonstrators attended more than 40 demonstrations in the state.

At a rally in Salt Lake City, Utah, a crowd control volunteer shot 39-year-old fashion designer Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, who was later pronounced dead. In northern Virginia a man drove his car into a group of protesters, hitting at least one person. Similar cases of motorists hitting protesters occurred in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Individuals also committed violent hit-and-run incidents against protesters in smaller cities such as Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Riverside, California.

Impact

According to the ACLU, more than five million protesters attended “No Kings” rallies—an unprecedentedly high number. The protests stood in stark contrast to the scale of protests which occurred during Trump’s first presidential term in 2017. The previous record had been held by the 2017 Women’s March, which had seen more than 3.3 million protesters across the U.S. Harvard University’s Crowd Counting Consortium estimated that the first three months of Trump’s second term had seen about three times as many protests as his entire first presidency. This finding did not include the “No Kings” protests or other rallies in April, May, or June.

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Organizers have released information about another day of protest scheduled for July 17, 2025, under the name “Good Trouble Lives On,” in a nod to noted civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis, who popularized the concept of “good trouble.”