(Image via Colorado Newsline | Kevin Mohatt)
Staff Writer: Skyler Pereyra
Email: spereyra@umassd.edu
On October 18th, all demographics across cities worldwide participated in the 2nd No Kings Protest. According to the official No Kings website, more than 7 million people peacefully protested in the United States, D.C, and a handful of cities around the world.
The No Kings organization was started by the Indivisible organization in collaboration with over 200 smaller groups around the United States to fight for the future of our country as a democracy.
The 1st No Kings Protest was held on June 14th this year, the same day as the U.S Army’s 250th Anniversary Parade, which also happened to be the day of Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. While the parade was described as “a disappointing, sad affair,” over 4 million people were in attendance at the protest.
CBS News reported that over 100,000 people gathered at the Boston Commons on October 18th, where police stated that not a single arrest was made.
The Mayor of Boston stated in a speech at the rally, “We stand here today to tell the Trump administration that when it comes to our freedoms, when it comes to our families, Boston doesn’t back down. Boston will keep fighting back to keep moving forward.”
Many countries outside of the U.S joined the protests in solidarity. The map on the No Kings website lists Mexico, Panama, Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Australia as places where protests occurred.
Downtown Los Angeles received a surprise guest with Pedro Pascal joining the crowds of protestors with a sign reading “Only Queens, No Kings” that depicted a drag queen giving a side eye to Trump’s first wife, Ivana.
Similarly, Bill Nye the Science Guy popped up at the Washington, D.C. protest, where he gave a powerful speech to the crowd. Nye asked the crowd, “How did we get here?”
This president and his associates cannot tolerate dissent. To them, our free speech is frightening.
In reaction to the No Kings rallies, President Trump posted an AI-generated video on X of him flying on a fighter jet spewing brown liquid on protesters.
He also stated in an interview, “It’s a joke. I looked at the people. They are not representative of this country. And I looked at all the brand new signs I guess paid for by Soros and other radical left lunatics. We’re checking it out. The demonstrations were very small. And the people were whacked out.”
He also told Fox News, “I’m not a king. I work my ass off to make our country great. That’s all it is. I’m not a king at all.”
While a majority of the protests were peaceful and without incident, there were a couple reports of arrests.
For example, David Cox of New York claimed to a person at a gas station the day before the protests that he had firebombs in his car and planned to “fight ICE agents” during the Manhattan rally. When Cox left, the person called the authorities, who were able to locate his car the next day, where he was taken into custody.
At the time of writing, he was being charged with “making a terroristic threat, false report of terrorism, and making a threat of mass harm.”
In Myrtle Beach, Florida, Mary Moriarty drove by a protest and waved a gun from the inside of her car at the protestors. She was later arrested and is being charged with “pointing and presenting a firearm.”
In Los Angeles, 14 people were arrested, including 2 minors. According to police reports, crowds stayed in the area protesting into the night, where they were warned by authorities to disperse or they would be arrested.
On October 21st, the No Kings organization hosted a virtual call to talk about what comes next. Their website page titled “What’s Next?” states, “The fight doesn’t end here. No Kings was a beginning — a reminder that power belongs to the people, not to those who would rule over us. The work now is to stay ready, stay connected, and keep fighting back.”
Mary Anne Marsh, a political analyst at Dewey Square Group in Boston, told MassLive that the marches should happen every three months. “You have the next one in January, and another in April. Then you’re well into the [2026] midterms and primaries … Last weekend was a quantum leap. Everyone knows someone who went. It’s just going to increase the participation.”