Demonstrators in Tuscaloosa carried signs reading “War is not a game,” “No Kings—No Immunity from Accountability,” and “Justice for All.”These marchers joined protesters in twenty other Alabama cities during what’s called the largest “No Kings” march event, which went international with protests in France and Italy.
“He (Trump) is acting as if he is above the law himself and making calls that I don't feel are very presidential. They're more dictatorship and monarchy,” said Nancy Ruber of Tuscaloosa. “So we're here just to stand for our own independence, our own voice. And you know, we want to see him being held accountable for the things that he's doing, the things he thinks he's above, consequences, being held into some responsibility.”
The protest in Tuscaloosa took place alongside events in Mobile, Huntsville, Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery, Oneonta, Clanton, Madison, and Scottsboro among others. Organizers say attendees sounds angrier than previous gatherings, following the war against Iran which is the Alabama Triple-A says is contributing to gas prices almost a dollar a gallon higher than a month ago.
“There are more people that used to be strong supporters of Trump that might have changed their mind,” said Sergio Fabi, visiting Tuscaloosa from Italy. “Because of all the lies and promises that he made about really simple things like inflation and gas price and all that, and nothing of that. Like we never go to war. I mean, like politicians lie, okay, but to a degree. And I think that even his own people, they realize that.”
Fabi’s countrymen also took to the streets of Italy. In Rome, thousands marched with defiant chants aimed at Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose conservative government saw its referendum for streamlining Italy's judiciary fail badly this week amid criticism that it was a threat to the courts' independence. Protesters also waved banners protesting Israeli and US attacks on Iran, calling for “A world free from wars.”
Minnesota took center stage, with thousands of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder to celebrate resistance to Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement. The state’s flagship event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner. He and other speakers praised the state's people for taking to the streets over the winter in opposition to a surge of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.
Springsteen performed “ Streets of Minneapolis,” the song he wrote in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. Springsteen lamented Good and Pretti’s deaths but said the state's pushback against ICE has given the rest of the country hope.
“Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America,” he said. “And this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities, will not stand.”
People rallied from New York City, with almost 8.5 million residents in a solidly blue state, to Driggs, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in eastern Idaho, a state Trump carried with 66% of the vote in 2024.
U.S. organizers have estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. This week they told reporters they expected 9 million participants Saturday, though it was too early to tell whether those expectations were met.
Organizers said more than 3,100 events — 500 more than in October — were registered, in all 50 states. In Topeka, Kansas, a rally outside the Statehouse had people impersonating a frog king and Trump as a baby. Wendy Wyatt drove with “Cats Against Trump” sign from Lawrence, 20 miles (32 kilometers) to the east, and planned to drive back to her hometown for a later rally there.
Wyatt said “there are so many things” about the Trump
administration that upset her, but “this is very hopeful to me.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson characterized them as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support. The “only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” Jackson said in a statement.
The National Republican Congressional Committee was also sharply critical.
“These Hate America Rallies are where the far-left’s most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone,” NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole said.
Trump's immigration enforcement push, particularly in Minnesota, was just one item on a long list of protester grievances that also included the war in Iran and the rollback of transgender rights. Speakers at the Minnesota rally decried billionaires' economic power.
In Washington, hundreds marched past the Lincoln Memorial and into the National Mall, holding signs that read “Put down the crown, clown” and “Regime change begins at home.”
Demonstrators rang bells, played drums and chanted “No kings.”
Bill Jarcho was there from Seattle, joined by six people dressed as insects wearing tactical vests that said, “LICE” — spoofing ICE, as part of what he called a “mock and awe” tour.
“What we provide is mockery to the king,” Jarcho said. “It’s about taking authoritarianism and making fun of it, which they hate.”
About 40,000 people marched in San Diego, police there said. In New York, Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said during a news conference that Trump and his supporters want people to be afraid to protest.
“They want us to be afraid that there’s nothing we can do to stop them,” she said. “But you know what? They are wrong — dead wrong.”
Organizers said two-thirds of RSVPs for the rallies came from outside of major urban centers. That included communities in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Louisiana, as well in electorally competitive suburbs in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.
