No Kings protests

The July 14 “No Kings” protests brought over 5 million people into the streets to demonstrate their opposition to Donald Trump’s reactionary right-wing agenda. Occurring in the wake of Homeland Security’s violent raids on Los Angeles and the inspiring resistance from Angelenos, the No Kings actions were decisively pro-immigrant and anti-ICE. With over 800 actions in all 50 states, protesters dwarfed Trump’s military birthday celebration–an attempted show of force–and thousands even marched on Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private West Palm Beach club. Although not without shortcomings, the day of protest represents an important development in the resistance to the MAGA reaction. What follows are reports and reflections from Tempest members across the U.S. and beyond.

Twin Cities, MN

The Twin Cities saw a huge turnout, which would have likely been bigger absent the horrific assassination of Melissa Hortman and attempted assassination of John Hoffman, which definitely altered the mood of the actions. The state patrol issued an advisory not to go to the protests “in an abundance of caution”;  the shooter had written “No Kings” on his alleged hit list,  indicating he might have been planning to target the rallies as well. Compared to the “Hands Off” protests earlier this year, the actions were noticeably less white and middle-class. The speeches at the front were focused on the attacks on Hortman and Hoffman, as to be expected, but I saw many signs relating to Palestine and ICE raids in the crowd, which was wonderful.

—Paul KD

Burlington, VT

This was the biggest rally I’ve seen in the city since I moved here 26 years ago. Organizers estimated 16,000 people in a town of 40,000. That is unreal. There were four feeder marches: three by Indivisible and 50501, and one spearheaded by the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation (VCPL), which had 200 Palestinian flags in a contingent of several hundred. At the rally, we featured Mohsen Mahdawi as well as Elizabeth Price, the mother of Hisham Arawtani, who was shot by a white racist along with two other students, all of whom were targeted for wearing Keffiyehs.

It was by far the most radical rally of the resistance to Trump in the state of Vermont so far. Participants ranged from the Democrat’s Congressional Representative Becca Balint to the Migrant Justice leaders like Javier Ramirez and Abel Luna, and the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation’s Wafic Faour and AFSCME 1674’s Nolan Rampy. This was a merging of the Left, grouped around VCPL and the liberal forces in 50501 and Indivisible. Images of the event can be viewed here.

On June 14th, 50501, Indivisible, and a host of other organizations, including the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation (VCPL), organized dozens of No Kings Protests throughout Vermont that drew close to 40,000 people across our brave little state. People marched and rallied from Brattleboro to the state capitol in Montpelier, the summit of Mt Philo with its iconic views of Lake Champlain, Newport, and everywhere in between. The largest one in Burlington peaked at over 16,000 people in a city of a little over 40,000. It was the largest demonstration in the city in decades. Four feeder marches converged on Burlington’s Waterfront Park, including one led by VCPL, numbering over a thousand waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free, free Palestine!”

The rally at Waterfront Park featured performers, speakers, and a die-in organized by the Resister Sisters, warning of the impending demise of everything from Medicaid to higher education and world peace if we do not rise up and resist. The speaker represented the full breadth of the resistance from freed Palestinian political prisoner Mohsen Mahdawi to author Alison Bechdel, Congressional Representative Becca Balint, Progressive Party State Senator Tanya Vhyovsky, VCPL’s Wafic Faour and Elizabeth Price (the mother of Hisham Awartani who was shot along with two other Palestinian students in Burlington last year), Migrant Justice leaders Javier Ramirez and Abel Luna, Free Her activists Jayna Ahsaf and Arena Coryer, disability rights activist Max Barrow, UVM sociologist and former adviser to Bernie Sanders Nikhil Goyal, and AFSCME 1674 Vice President and Tempest member Nolan Rampy. Performers such as Avi Salloway, Grace Oedel, Miriam Bernardo, the Brazilian drum band Sambatucada, and the Solidarity Singers belted out the songs and rhythms of the resistance.

Underscoring the urgency of the moment, Border Patrol agents arrested Migrant Justice leaders Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz and his stepdaughter Heidi Perez up towards the Canadian Border in Franklin County. The agents pulled their car over, smashed its windows, abducted them, and placed them in jail pending deportation. Organizers of the rally called on demonstrators to join Migrant Justice in an emergency rally demanding their freedom at the jail. Amidst this moment of emergency, MCs Gerri Peterson of 50501 and VCPL’s Ashley Smith welcomed the raucous crowd of demonstrators with chants of “No Kings” and “We are unstoppable, another world is possible.” Images of the event can be viewed here.

—Ashley Smith

Ottawa, Canada, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Ottawa had about 300 people marching around the American embassy. The crowd was very mixed politically. Perhaps a third were clearly Canadian nationalists. The No Kings event (in Ottawa, it was called No Tyrants, to avoid insulting royalists) coincided with a Palestinian Solidarity protest, which started at the same time. According to an Indivisible organizer, there was no attempt to link the events. By the time the Palestinian demo went by the American embassy, the No Kings event was long gone.

In San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), a protest of about 200 people took place at the American consulate.

Detroit, MI

A few thousand people in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale lined up along Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile. The politics had a nationalist tone, and the event featured American flags and patriotic imagery. Someone was handing Israeli and Palestinian flags out of the same basket, which demonstrates the low level of politics.

—Hank Kennedy

New York, NY

100,000 protesters gathered in New York. Though there were significant radical elements in the march, with signs referencing the genocide in Gaza or the war against immigrants, the character of the action was overwhelmingly liberal. There were a lot of American flags, signs that read things like “If Kamala won, we’d all be having brunch right now,” and even “roses are red/tacos are enjoyable/don’t blame Mexicans/just because you’re unemployable.” These signs and symbols indicate a low level of politics among some participants.

I think it’s very good that it happened, of course, but I think we shouldn’t be confused about its class character, at least in New York. For the most part, the people who came out in New York are from the Democrats’ core base, the economically privileged minority of the population that plays the role of consumer of last resort in the world system. Manhattan beneath 96th Street and parts of Brooklyn are a national stronghold for this section of the population. It’s good that they’re in the streets, but I was much more excited by the 10,000 in the streets on Tuesday, who are from our class, came through the experiences of 2020, and post-Oct 7th, and are deeply radical. Both are important, and liberals will play a role in forming the united fist that can resist Trump and eventually smash the state, but one is more important than the other. Hopefully the force of circumstances pushes this momentum into activities beyond waiting for the 2026 midterms.

Madison, WI

Between 10-15 thousand people took the streets in Madison—about the same size as the Hands Off protest in April, but this one was noisier (perhaps because it started with a march). Politics from the front was very liberal and electoralist (with the Working Families Party rather than the Democrats taking the lead). However, more militant protesters were also present, and there was a good-sized and vocal Palestine contingent, an issue ignored by the official organizers. One weakness was the virtual absence of unions.

—Phil Gasper

San Francisco, CA

The demonstration in San Francisco was massive, numbering in the tens of thousands. The Party for Socialism and Liberation seemed to lead from a sound truck at the front of that march, but there was very little in the way of organized contingents. I noticed a lot of American flags, rainbow pride flags, and California state flags. USEF members and others wearing union t-shirts were visible even if there was no officially organized union presence. The participants were very diverse, and the action was significantly larger than both the April 5 “Hands Off” protest and the May Day protest. A large march took place in Oakland at the same time.

—Alex Schmaus

New Haven and Hartford, CT

About 7,000 protesters gathered at the state capital in Hartford, CT, and another 3,000 in New Haven. Both actions saw a lot of specifically anti-Trump and pro-democracy signage and slogans, but a significant amount of anti-ICE sentiment/ signage was also present. This is both a reaction to the violent ICE raids in Los Angeles and elsewhere and the result of long-standing immigrant rights organizations in the state. Although under capacity, Connecticut is home to a well-organized rapid response network that mobilizes to document and support individuals and families who are targeted by ICE. The protest also saw many keffiyehs and Palestine flags. There were no organized contingents, but participants expressed a general sense that the courts cannot save us and that additional protests will be needed. There were 26 “No Kings” events in the state today, ranging from hundreds of protesters to thousands. The New Haven event was organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, but they had a very limited visible presence. Socialist Alternative had a literature table at the pre-rally.

—Eric Maroney

Winston Salem, NC

According to the Winston Salem Journal, 60,000 people showed up to a Pride event on June 14. It was the biggest Winston Salem Pride in recent memory, with crowds lining the streets for blocks during the 11 am parade and folks roaming the booths wearing rainbow colors and waving rainbow flags until late in the day. But this Pride was different in other ways besides the numbers. Most participants brought political signs, and many just jumped into the parade with their signs condemning Trump, the deportations, and the loss of freedom of expression. There were huge contingents during the parade of ordinary people mixed in with the official Indivisible and Democratic Party participants. Some signs were in Spanish on one side and English on the other, affirming that immigrants built this country and expressing outrage at the loss of family members picked up by ICE.

Greensboro Revolutionary Socialists (GRS), a local of the Tempest Collective, participated in coordination with several groups that make up the Coalition to Reject a MAGA America, which came together in December 2024 around plans to protest the inauguration. In addition to GRS, groups present at Saturday’s march included DSA, the Triad Workers’ Assembly, the Revolutionary Communists (RevComs), and the Palestine Solidarity group. We held signs condemning Trump and his role in the starvation and extermination of Gaza. The response to the signs and banners was enthusiastic. The Coalition also handed out 200 flyers listing the assaults of the Trump administration and connecting recipients to the different coalition groups via a QR code and link tree.

Overall, it was a powerful event that included many newcomers to politics. One person stated that it was her first protest, and she was “worried about getting shot” but needed to come out anyway. Hundreds also protested in High Point, only 40 minutes away from Winston Salem. Encouraging as it was, with the U.S. entering the war with Iran and Democratic leadership showing their complicity, it will take continued organization and strategy to win a better world and overcome the threats of capitalism unhinged.

—Gwenette Robertson

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”
Featured Image credit: AlphaBeta135; modified by Tempest.