Protesters rallied in Boston this wek as part of a nationwide demonstration against Trump | Credits: WBUR News
In what organisers have predicted to be the largest demonstration against Trump’s Administration since January, millions of people are expected to participate this Saturday in over 2,000 protests across the United States, several global news outlets reported.
“On June 14, millions of people in more than 1,500 cities across all 50 states and commonwealths will take to the streets,” the No Kings website says. The number of expected protests has since increased significantly.
“No Kings is expected to be the largest single-day mobilisation since President Trump returned to office—a mass, nationwide protest rejecting authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarisation of our democracy,” their website adds.
The No Kings statement points explicitly to “Trump’s self-aggrandising $100-million military parade and birthday celebration” as the reason for the protests. They criticised the Trump parade as “an event funded by taxpayers while millions are told there’s no money for Social Security, SNAP, Medicaid, or public schools.”
‘Use of military marks dangerous escalation’
However, they also expressed their conclusive opposition to the use of force to “quell protests” in Los Angeles. “Trump issued a call to National Guard members into federal service to quell protests. He also authorised the Secretary of Defence to use federal military forces if deemed necessary. This marks a dangerous escalation after days of militarised crackdowns on demonstrators.”
And they accused “the Administration of threatening force to silence dissent—another clear sign of authoritarian overreach designed to stoke fear and control our communities.”
White House officials have refuted that cost, saying the parade, which will showcase 7 million pounds of machinery and weaponry through the nation’s capital on the president’s 79th birthday, would not cost more than $45 million.
The protests were planned before the anti-immigration riots in Los Angeles, but interest in participating in them has increased significantly since Trump ordered the National Guard and US Marines to quell the disturbances, CNN stated.
Over 3.5 million protesters expected
“We’ve seen hundreds of new events on the No Kings Day map since the weekend,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, one of the groups behind the “day of defiance”, according to a The Guardian article. “We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people register for those events.”
“Following the Hands Off! and 50501 protests this spring, Saturday’s demonstrations won’t be the first nationwide rejection of Trump’s policies. But organisers expect them to be the largest,” CNN added.
Levin told CNN that, “Even conservative estimates say that 3.5 million people turned out for the Hands Off mobilisation in April. That’s already 1 per cent of the US population. No Kings is on track to exceed that by millions more. This is historic.”
Local state authorities across the US have prepped in advance of the protests, with many of them warning violence will not be tolerated, and at least one threatening to kill “violent protesters.”
Warning to protesters: ‘We will kill you’
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who characterised the expected protesters as “radical anti-American groups,” warned that those who attack law enforcement or destroy property will be prosecuted.
In Florida, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey stated that peaceful protests are a part of democracy, and people are encouraged to express their opinions. However, he stated that anyone who breaks the law will face consequences.
“If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains because we will kill you,” Ivey said, according to CNN affiliate WESH.
They also reported Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said drivers who are threatened won’t be held responsible if they hit protesters, in a comment that could be interpreted as an invitation for vehicle attacks on protesters.
“If you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety,” DeSantis told podcaster Dave Rubin, according to WJXT. “So, if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you.”
In Chicago, Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson said his city’s police will protect people’s right to assemble while ensuring residents’ day-to-day lives aren’t disrupted.
Protest organisers have contacted local authorities ahead of the protests in a bid to ensure events are peaceful, and they concluded saying the demonstrations are a clear message to the president on his birthday: “In America, we don’t do kings.”
