Getty ImagesPeople take part in a “No Kings” protest outside the Michigan Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, on 14 June 2025 as US President Donald Trump presides over a military parade in Washington, DC.
Thousands of people have gathered in cities across the US to join protests against President Donald Trump, hours ahead of his military parade in Washington DC.
The demonstrations organised by a group called “No Kings” was billed as a nationwide day of defiance of his policies.
Lawmakers, union leaders, and activists gave speeches in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Houston to crowds waving American flags and signs critical of Trump.
The military parade, scheduled for Saturday evening, is timed to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Army and it is also Trump’s birthday.
He has warned that protesters who demonstrate at the military parade would be “met with very big force”.
Some politicians and former military leaders have criticised the event as a politicisation of the US military.
In Los Angeles, California, leaders and law enforcement remained on high alert after a week of protests against a series of immigration raids sparked protests across the city.
They were largely peaceful but some became violent, with cars set on fire. Trump sent in the state’s National Guard contingent against the wishes of Governor Gavin Newsom.
The “No Kings” group takes its name from a criticism that Trump has overstepped the limits of presidential power in second term.
His early slate of executive orders, mass firings of federal workers, and sudden deportations have been met with hundreds of lawsuits, alleging the administration had violated the US Constitution and various laws and procedures.
Demonstrations in the state of Minnesota were cancelled after attacks on two state lawmakers on Saturday. One lawmaker was killed, along with her husband, and another was injured in the shootings.
Protesters named issues as broad as immigration to the effectiveness of the federal government as reasons for coming out to march.
In Los Angeles, thousands more people took to the streets to participate in a local No Kings march, despite the cloud hanging over the city from the previous week of demonstrations.
Elidia Buenrostro, 29, told the Los Angeles Times she marched on behalf of undocumented family members living in the country. She and her daughter held a sign that said “families belong together.
“I just feel like we need to defend our democracy,” a 61-year-old nurse attending the Philadelphia rally told the Associated Press. Karen Van Trieste told the newswire that Trump’s staffing cuts to the Centers for Disease Control, a major public health agency, worried her.
Some dressed up as characters from popular culture as commentary for the political moment they saw themselves in.
Jaqueline Sacrona told the New York Times that she and her daughters had dressed as characters from Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale for a local Michigan protest, to channel her concerns about reproductive rights.
A man named Dennis Hannan in Philadelphia costumed himself as Elvis Pressley. Clad in a bedazzled suit and holding a flag, he told CNN that the late rock n’ roll icon was “the only American King.”
“We’re here to downplay any other kings,” he told CNN.