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21-10-2025
NEW YORK: Huge crowds have taken part in “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump’s policies in cities across the US, including New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.
Thousands packed New York City’s iconic Times Square and streets all around, with people holding signs with slogans like “Democracy not Monarchy” and “The Constitution is not optional”.
Ahead of the demonstrations, Trump allies accused the protesters of being linked with the far-left Antifa movement, and condemned what they called “the-hate America rally”.
Several US states had mobilized the National Guard but organizers said the events, which drew nearly seven million people, were peaceful.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has expanded the scope of presidential power, using executive orders to dismantle parts of the federal government and to deploy National Guard troops to US cities despite objections by state governors.
He has also called on the administration’s top law enforcement officials to prosecute his perceived enemies.
The president says his actions are necessary to rebuild a country in crisis and has dismissed accusations that he is a behaving like a dictator or fascist as hysterical but critics warn some of the moves by his administration are unconstitutional and a threat to American democracy.
In an interview with Fox News, set to air on Sunday, Trump appeared to address the rallies. “A king! This is not an act,” Trump said in a preview clip of the interview. “You know they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king.”
In New York, sections of the crowd regularly erupted into chants of “This is what democracy looks like” as a near-constant drumbeat boomed in the background.
Helicopters and drones could be seen flying overhead and police stood on the sidelines. The New York Police Department said more than 100,000 people had gathered across all five of the city’s boroughs, and that no protest-related arrests were made.
In Times Square, a police officer standing by estimated that over 20,000 were marching down 7th Avenue.
“We have no dictators in America. And we won’t allow Trump to keep eroding our democracy,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on social media alongside photos of himself holding up a sign that read “fix the health care crisis” in New York.
In Washington DC, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders delivered a keynote speech.
“We’re not here because we hate America, we’re here because we love America,” he said to a crowd of thousands. Democratic senators Cory Booker and Adam Schiff also posted videos of themselves attending protests, thanking Americans for showing up across the country. “This is what democracy looks like. Thank you all of America for speaking out,” Schiff said.
Senator Chris Murphy shared footage of the huge turnout in his home state of Connecticut: “Breathtaking. This is why today will likely go down as the biggest day of peaceful protest in our nation’s 250 year history.”
Republican governors in several US states had placed National Guard troops on standby ahead of the protests.
The move was denounced by Democrats, including the state’s top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: “Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do and Greg Abbott just proved he’s one of them.” (Int’l News Desk)
