by: Noah Gloege

World Editor

On Oct. 18, thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Bay Area and across the country to protest the Trump Administration for its immigration policies, the National Guard deployment, and the mass layoffs of government officials. These demonstrations, known as the No Kings Protest, followed the first round on June 14, which featured approximately 1,800 events nationwide. This second round included roughly 2,500 scheduled protests, each drawing thousands of participants. Organizers and local volunteers estimated that about five million people took part in the June protests and believed that this time around, participation rose to about seven million, making it one of the largest single-day protests in US history. The highest-attended crowds gathered in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.  

On the local scale, 50,000 individuals attended the Oct. 18 protests in San Francisco, speaking out against President Trump’s insistence on and looming order to deploy the National Guard, an order he has since rescinded.  This comes amid a government shutdown, with lawmakers claiming no end in sight. The protests in San Francisco started around 10:30 AM, at Ocean Beach, with one notable feature being a human banner spelling “No Kings,” “Yes on 50”, and a massive American flag. Following the demonstrations on the beach, the marches extended to the Embarcadero, San Francisco City Hall, Sausalito, and other locations. The protests in San Jose at St. James Park drew activists to the streets around noon, with around 10,000 individuals showing up. 

Many of these protesters held signs reading, “ICE is the Gestapo” and “No One is Above the Law.” The demonstrators also sang songs for hours, such as “This Land is Your Land” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Many protesters arrived in inflatable costumes, including dinosaurs, frogs, and polar bears, to demonstrate their commitment to peaceful protest. In San Francisco, a police motorcycle escort led activists down the Embarcadero, with the crowd so dense that individuals had to wait 40 minutes or more before joining. Following the marches, many city leaders and activists gave speeches, while poets voiced their opinions, and protestors sang at any available moment. The Mayor of Oakland, Barbara Lee, explained additional motivation behind the protestors’ beliefs: “We’re here today because we are the patriots, not the ones waving the flag, tearing down our democracy, but the ones standing up to protect it.” Lee also asserted how “We are free people, and we intend to stay that way because in the United States of America, there are no kings. There’s only ‘We the people.'” 

In contrast, House Speaker Mike Johnson called these protests the “Hate America Rallies,” with many other Republican officials describing the rallies as un-American; some officials insisted that a foundation run by George and Alexander Soros, the Hungarian-American investor and activist, paid the protesters. President Trump also responded to these protests by saying, “I think it’s a joke,”…“I looked at the people. They’re not representative of this country.” Nevertheless, the organizers of the No Kings Protest believed they had achieved their goal for these protests, but that there is still a lot of work to be done. Many participants have explained that the demonstrations felt almost like a celebration. Though the feeling around these protests has grown much angrier than during the June demonstrations, organizers stand by their determination to hold peaceful protests. 

Sources: (ABC News, The Mercury News, NPR)