In the US, Saturday, March 28th, 2026, was the day of the “No Kings” protests nationwide. Americans from both sides of the political divide, Republicans and Democrats, gathered in the streets of Minnesota, Washington DC, Houston, Nashville, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and virtually all major cities and towns, to protest the shrinking of democratic space under President Donald Trump.
The protestors marched and displayed eye-catching anti-Trump and anti-war signs. Others displayed anti-J.D. Vance posters. Others just wore interesting kinds of costumes as they marched along. The individual protest events were said to total more than 3,300.
One 81-year-old protestor, Joseph Hayden Jr., told the media that he had also participated in protests in his youth, when the country demanded the end of the Vietnam War. Other senior protestors included James Parrish Jr., an 82-year-old military veteran, and Gail Lutze, who is 84 years old.
Why the No-Kings Protests
Besides the general tendency for Trump to act in a dictatorial manner, the protestors cited the president’s recent unilateral actions pertaining to immigration and war. They cited Trump’s misuse of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, as happened when ICE violently arrested individuals in Minnesota and elsewhere in the country last year.
They also cited the invasion of Iran on February 28th, 2026, where Trump ignored Congress and proceeded to wage a war against Iran alongside the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The protestors also blame Trump for the continued rise in the cost of living.
There were similar protests in October last year, with New Yorkers showing up in surprisingly huge numbers. Police in New York had to close down the streets to traffic to enable more than 100,000 people to carry out their protests safely.
However, not everyone was empathetic to the crowds. Asked about the protests, a White House representative said the protestors were having a “therapy session”.