Demonstrators at the ‘No Kings’ protest across the US tell the Guardian why they took the streets to protest
Millions of protestors gathered across the US on Saturday across thousands of events to protest against Donald Trump’s administration in a planned series of events called “No Kings”.
Organized by a coalition of groups, the demonstrations were largely peaceful, though they occurred on the same day Minnesota lawmakers were shot, and one killed, in political violence, and just a week after the federal government ordered military to descend on Los Angeles streets to quell protests there.
The Guardian spoke to dozens of protesters across the country about the mass demonstrations. Here is what they said.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvani
St Paul, Minnesota
Los Angeles, California
Washington DC
- Joan Miles and Beth UrieMiles, 64, and Urie, 74, traveled from VermonMiles wore a sandwich board reading “$30M TAKEN FROM OUR MILITARY”. Urie’s board said “IT’S NOT ABOUT LEFT VS RIGHT. IT’S ABOUT RIGHT VS WRONG”. Despite the seemingly overwhelmingly pro-Trump orientation of the crowd, the pair said they had received a positive reception from some soldiers.“People said they appreciated us making our view known,” Miles said.
- Chris YeazelArmy veteran, 40, who served in Iraq“America does not do military parades like this,” he said. “Everything is just authoritarianism. He’s try to create chaos and become a dictator.”“This is the nation’s capital. This is exactly where we need to protest.”
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