Governors across the U.S. urged calm and vowed no tolerance for violence, while some mobilized the National Guard ahead of marchers gathering in major downtowns and small towns. Through midday, confrontations were isolated.
Intermittent light rain fell as marchers gathered for the flagship rally in Philadelphia’s Love Park. They shouted “Whose streets? Our streets!” as they marched to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where they listened to speakers on the steps made famous in the movie “Rocky.”
“So what do you say, Philly?” Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland shouted to the crowd. “Are you ready to fight back? Do you want a gangster state or do you want free speech in America?”
In Charlotte, demonstrators trying to march through downtown briefly faced off with police forming a barricade with their bicycles, chanting “let us walk,” while law enforcement in northern Atlanta deployed tear gas to divert several hundred protesters heading toward Interstate 285. A journalist was seen being detained by officers and police helicopters flew above the crowd.
In some places, organizers handed out little American flags while others flew their flags upside down. Mexican flags made an appearance in some demonstrations.
Thousands gathered in downtown Love Park, with organizers handing out small American flags and people carried protest signs saying things like “fight oligarchy” and “deport the mini-Mussolinis.”
Karen Van Trieste, a 61-year-old nurse who drove up from Maryland, said she grew up in Philadelphia and wanted to be with a large group of people showing her support.
“I just feel like we need to defend our democracy,” she said. She is concerned about the Trump administration’s layoffs of staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fate of immigrant communities and the Trump administration trying to rule by executive order, she said.
A woman wearing a foam Statue of Liberty crown brought a speaker system and led an anti-Trump sing-along, changing the words “young man” in the song “Y.M.C.A.” to “con man.”
One man in Revolutionary War era garb and a tricorn hat held a sign with a quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
Thousands gathered in front of City Hall in a boisterous crowd, waving signs and listening to a Native American drum circle and dance performances, before marching through the streets.
Signs included “They fear us, don’t back down California,” “Protesting is not a crime,” “We carry dreams not danger” and “ICE out of LA.” One demonstrator carried a 2-foot-tall (60-centimeter) Trump pinata on a stick, with a crown on his head and sombrero hanging off his back while another hoisted a huge helium-filled orange baby balloon with blond hair styled like Trump’s.
Crowds cheered anti-Trump speakers in Charlotte’s First Ward Park and chanted “we have no kings” before marching behind a “No Kings” banner through the city, chanting “No kings, no crowns, we will not bow down” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
Marchers stretched for blocks, led by a group of people holding a giant Mexican flag and bystanders cheering and clapping for protesters along the way.
Jocelyn Abarca, a 21-year-old college student, said the protest was a chance to “speak for what’s right” after mass deportations and the deployment of the National Guard to deal with protesters in Los Angeles last week.
“If we don’t stop it now, it’s just going to keep getting worse,” she said of the Trump administration’s actions.
“Out of an abundance of caution my Department of Public Safety is recommending that people do not attend any political rallies today in Minnesota until the suspect is apprehended,” he wrote.
About a thousand people gathered on the grounds of Florida’s old Capitol in Tallahassee, where protesters chanted, “This is what community looks like,” and carried signs with messages like “one nation under distress” and “dissent is patriotic.”
Organizers of the rally explicitly told the crowd to avoid any conflicts with counterprotesters and to take care not to jaywalk or disrupt traffic.
Some governors urged calm and put state police on standby for the weekend.
