'No Kings' protest against Trump floods streets across US

FE Team | Published: June 16, 2025 00:16:40

NEW YORK, June 15 (AFP): A giant orange balloon depicting Donald Trump in a diaper towered over one "No Kings" protest Saturday, as hundreds of thousands thronged streets across the United States to decry the president's policies.
Protest organizers expected rallies in all 50 US states, calling them the largest since Trump returned to office in January, with the aim of "rejecting authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarization of our democracy."
Wielding signs with messages like "No KKKings" and "No crown for the clown," the protests stood in stark contrast to a massive military parade in Washington on Saturday.
The parade was meant to commemorate the founding of the US Army, but also fell on the president's 79th birthday.
As thousands of soldiers marched and tanks rumbled through Washington's streets, protesters across the country slammed Trump as a "fascist."
"We have a dictator," said Robin Breed, a 56-year-old retired nurse, in Austin, Texas, where thousands demonstrated while surrounded by hundreds of police and state troopers.
"He is trampling on people's lives, he's militarizing our streets, he is terrorizing our communities," he said, insisting it was important "to push back and say it's our country, not his."
In New York, tens of thousands of people, many wearing raincoats and carrying colorful umbrellas, marched down Fifth Avenue in a downpour to the sounds of drums, bells and chants of "Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go!"
Actors Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo were seen getting drenched among the protesters.
"I'm miserable and outraged about how this administration is destroying the ideals of the American Constitution," Polly Shulman, a 62-year-old museum employee, told AFP.
Holding a sign reading "Protect the Constitution," she said the most shocking thing was "the illegal deportations of law-abiding residents.
They were "being kidnapped and disappeared and sent to torture prisons in foreign countries."
In March, the Trump administration expelled more than 250 Venezuelans to a mega-prison in El Salvador after accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which it has declared a terrorist organization.
At least four protesters in New York were arrested at a separate, smaller protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, police said.
"I think people are mad as hell," said Lindsay Ross, a 28-year-old musician who urged others to show "the administration that we're not going to take this."