On March 28, 2026, marches and rallies took place in about 3,300 cities, towns, and villages across the United States. It was the third national “No Kings” mobilization. Organizers estimate that more than 8 million turned out, a significant increase over the estimated 7 million that participated in the October 2025 No Kings actions.
The network Indivisible was prominent among the organizers, but hundreds of other groups — both national and local — helped build the events. These included a number of local and national labor organizations.
The recent mobilizations marked an historic overall turnout of protesters in the United States as well as an unprecedented number of individual actions. Among the largest were in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota (as many as 200,000); New York City (where organizers reported more than 350,000 in attendance); Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. (about 100,000 each); Seattle (90,000); and Los Angeles and San Francisco (50,000 each).
Nearly two thirds of the actions, however, took place in smaller cities or towns, a 40% increase since the first No Kings mobilizations in June 2025. For example, in Colorado — where organizers of the Denver rally estimated attendance at 30,000 — some 70 other actions took place throughout the state, including 1,000 who protested in Greeley, the site of an ongoing strike by meatpackers.
In addition, at least 39 international protests took place, including in Europe and as far away as Tokyo and Sydney, underscoring the impact of Washington’s policies around the world.
The No Kings mobilizations have drawn forces with a variety of concerns under an umbrella of opposition to the increasing concentration of power in the executive branch and threats to basic democratic rights — including due process, free speech, and voting rights — posing the danger of one-man rule.
As before, last weekend’s events were spirited, festooned with colorful, often humorous signs and costumes. But some participants reported a more serious tone and greater focus in the actions this time around, reflecting the dangerous turn events have taken since last October. Outrage at the recent campaign of terror in immigrant communities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the last six months, and the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran over the last month, was evident in the handmade signs, chants, and comments by speakers at many events.
The “flagship” of this round of mobilizations was the massive turnout in the Twin Cities, the epicenter of resistance to a siege by ICE that resulted in a multitude of arrests, the terrorizing of immigrant communities, and the murder by federal agents of Minneapolis residents and volunteer observers Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Local police estimated the crowd — which converged on the state capitol in St. Paul from three different feeder marches — at 100,000; organizers placed the number closer to twice that.
The No Kings actions take place as the Democrats and Republicans gear up for mid-term elections in November. Democratic politicians were prominent on many of the speaker lists. A number of speakers and signs at many of the rallies pointed to voting as the answer to the authoritarian direction of the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump. But Bill Scheer from Minneapolis reports that in his community “the mood is to fight, not vote” as the way forward, clearly a product of the massive resistance on the ground by Minnesotans in recent months.
The No Kings website has announced that plans are in the works for more protests around May Day — the international working-class holiday — and activists in several cities are already planning events, a number of which will focus on the theme “Workers over Billionaires.”
We publish below a selection of reports and photos of the March 28 protests that World-Outlook received from our readers.
— World-Outlook editors
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MINNESOTA
By Louise Halverson, Bill Scheer, and Sandi Sherman
TWIN CITIES — The massive movement and mobilizations to defeat the ICE surge in Minnesota provided the framework for the No Kings demonstrations here. That resistance dealt the Trump administration a significant political setback. It showed in practice the way forward in the fight for social justice.
On March 28, three feeder marches made their way to the capitol in St. Paul, where the main rally took place. Police estimated the crowd at 100,000, while organizers claimed twice that. The gridlock experience this time compared to other rallies seemed to confirm that 200,000 is closer to the truth, making it the largest demonstration in Minnesota history.
Many other smaller actions took place in the Twin Cities area and across the state. In Richfield, a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis, 3,500 protesters lined the sides of 66th St., a main thoroughfare, for a 1½-mile stretch; a collection there garnered 37 full bags of groceries for the local food bank. Thousands more protested in St. Cloud, Duluth saw 1,000 protesters, and Redwood Falls held its very first demonstration with 100 people in attendance.
The Twin Cities feeder march promoted by the AFL-CIO was 1.2 miles long. Another was organized by the Immigrant Rights Defense Network. Before that action kicked off, speakers, including a Philipino, a Southeast Asian, and a Somali, described the impact of the ICE surge and the community response.
Beth Slocum, a sheep farmer from Welch, Minnesota, spoke about the essential role of immigrants in rural communities in farming, meat processing, and health care, and the deep impact of the surge in those areas and the rapid response to ICE threats in the countryside. Slocum is board chair of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP), an organization founded during the farm crisis in the 1980s. The LSP, she said, helped with the training of 800 people in 30 rural counties to defend immigrants, track and publicize ICE activity, and support immigrants in a variety of ways, including food and transportation. Her story described an important part of the resistance that is sometimes overlooked.
At the beginning of the rally at the capitol, master of ceremonies Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson received huge cheers when she said, “No ICE, No war, No billionaires, No kings.”
While these were the central themes, multiple issues were addressed by speakers and participants in signs and banners. The demand to end the war in Iran and to get the troops out was rarely highlighted. However, the crowd erupted with a loud, sustained chant of “End This War!” when U.S. senator Bernie Sanders denounced the war and the devastating assaults by Israel in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank.
“No Kings” and “ICE Out” were the dominant themes, but Palestinian, Ukrainian, and Mexican flags were scattered among the throngs. The crowd was younger compared with previous actions and there was a more even spread between young and old. The sunny weather allowed protesters to stay for hours.
While a number of the featured speakers were Democratic party officials — including Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, and others — it would be a mistake to think the focus on Trump made this simply a pro-Democratic Party rally.
“We’ve got to convert this great energy into electoral success,” said Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison, while speaking at the rally. “The bottom line is there’s a lot of ways to push back on a tyrant. One of them is … voting, and please don’t discount that one…. In part, we got into this mess because of an election, and we’re going to help get ourselves out of it through an election.”
The remarks by the remainder of the speakers, however, were clearly shaped by the character of the resistance in Minnesota and focused on the importance of grassroots movements in making change. Some noted that the ICE deportations did not start with Trump. And, while the overwhelming majority of the people who attended will likely pull the lever for Democrats in November, the mood is to fight, not vote as the main way forward.
The Trump administration’s unprecedented frontal assault on basic constitutional rights; the use of presidential power to violate sovereignty of nations and international law; the unleashing in U.S. cities of para-military forces with no accountability; and the assaults on universities, the press, Trump’s perceived critics, and basic human decency all demand a fight by broad sections of the population, most especially the working class, which is the biggest target.
Today’s rally showed that the Minnesota experience has taught this lesson to thousands.
The roster of speakers at the rally included local activists Natalie Ehret, the founder of Haven Watch, which stakes out the ICE detention center at the Whipple Building, supplying jackets, food, and use of phones to people released by ICE without cold weather clothing or money; Nick Benson, a volunteer who tracks deportation flights out of the Minneapolis–St. Paul airport; and Fran Clark, a neighborhood organizer, who told the crowd that the observer and responder networks were so effective that response time to an ICE sighting was under two minutes and each abduction was recorded by neighbors.
Musical entertainment included Bruce Springsteen singing Streets of Minneapolis, which he wrote following the murders of Good and Pretti, and Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers performing the classic protest songs “The Times They Are A-Changin” and “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’round.”
The three final speakers were national labor union presidents: AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President April Verrett, and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. Two local labor leaders spoke at the opening rally of the feeder march from Harriet Island.
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NEW YORK
By Mark Satinoff
NEW YORK CITY — Hundreds of thousands marched in midtown Manhattan today. Starting at Central Park South/59th St., the protesters moved in two streams, along 7th Ave. and Broadway, converging at Times Square, and ending up at 34th St., where they dispersed. The route, some 1¼ miles in length, was packed for hours. As demonstrators reached 34th St., tens of thousands more were just starting to march. As in the past two No Kings Day protests here, there was no rally or speakers.
The crowd was largely white and older. The theme “No Kings! No ICE! No War!” was reflected in a sea of creative homemade signs, most of which focused on denouncing Trump and his attacks on democratic rights. Anti-ICE signs were scattered throughout.
Many signs reflected a generalized antiwar sentiment, but there was little explicit mention of Cuba, Iran, or Venezuela. Supporters of Cuba held a banner and handed out close to 1,000 educational flyers at an assembly point as the march was taking off.
New York is one of the most heavily unionized cities in the country and undoubtedly many workers took part in the march. Although there was no NYC Central Labor Council contingent, this reporter did see small sections of workers from Local 32BJ SEIU, Laborer’s Local 79 Women’s Committee, and the PSC-CUNY (Professional Staff Congress of the City University of NY).
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ILLINOIS
By Linda Loew
CHICAGO — Upwards of 100,000 filled Grant Park here, then took to the streets of downtown for more than three hours on Saturday.
The themes of “ICE OUT” of our city and love for our immigrant communities permeated everywhere. There was widespread opposition to the war against Iran. Defense of our democratic rights was evident in thousands of homemade signs.
I helped distribute thousands of ICE OUT!/¡FUERA ICE! posters, which were grabbed up like hotcakes with great appreciation from marchers of all ages: young children to seniors.
Contingents of labor and communities filled the march route. There was literature supporting abortion rights, ending the oil blockade of Cuba, and turning out masses of people on May Day. Keffiyehs and Palestinian flags were also present and well received along the route.
People’s hunger to connect with others to resist the assaults on our rights at home and to defend sovereignty of people abroad was palpable in the streets and on public transportation throughout the day.
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WASHINGTON STATE
By Argiris Malapanis and Geoff Mirelowitz
SEATTLE — Tens of thousands rallied and marched here today to oppose attacks on democratic rights and other authoritarian policies of the Trump administration, as part of the nationwide “No Kings” protests. According to Indivisible, more than 90,000 people turned out.
“Thousands more Washingtonians gathered in cities around the Salish Sea, from Olympia to Bellevue to Shoreline to Bellingham,” reported the Seattle Times. “According to organizers, the turnout was bigger than the last round, especially in the smaller cities.”
“No ICE, No Wars, No Kings” was the theme of the action.
Protesters assembled at Cal Anderson Park, where a number of speakers addressed the crowd, including Washington’s attorney general Nick Brown. They then marched many blocks to Seattle Center, the action’s end point.
The atmosphere was festive. Bands played and several groups performed street theater, deriding the Trump administration’s attacks on voting rights, free speech, and due process. Signs, placards, and banners were overwhelmingly handmade.
A sizeable percentage of demonstrators were young people, but people of all ages participated.
Opposition to the terror unleashed by ICE agents against immigrant workers and their supporters was a rallying cry. Some carried signs with pictures of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. “Murdered by ICE… Say their names. We demand justice,” one such placard read.
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and its impact on the U.S. economy with rapidly rising gasoline prices and inflation ticking up, was also on the minds of many.
“I’m tired of war,” said Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace, while speaking at the opening rally, according to the Seattle Times.
“Iran your prices up!” read a sign under the caricature of Donald Trump. “Hands off Iran,” “No war on Iran,” read others.
One protester made a point of connecting the wars at home and abroad. “NO WARs on Greenland! Iran! Cuba! Venezuela! DC! LA! Detroit! Minneapolis! Chicago!” her sign read.
A small number of protesters highlighted opposition to Washington’s attempts to suffocate Cuba into submission by escalating the 67-year-old U.S. economic war with the recent blockade of virtually any fuel oil entering the country. “Stop starving Cuba,” read one of the signs.
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OREGON
By Rick Berman
HILLSBORO — There were 49 protest events on No Kings Day in the Portland metropolitan area. Some, in neighborhoods close to downtown Portland, were feeder rallies for a massive protest march to downtown that was estimated at 30,000 by the media and 40,000 by organizers. Others were stand-alone rallies scheduled for the same time as the main Portland march and rally. The media described rallies in three suburban towns — Beaverton, Gresham, and Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland — as being in the “thousands.”
I attended a spirited protest in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro alongside about 1,000 others. Homemade signs expressed anger at the Trump administration on many issues — opposing attacks on democratic rights and institutions, the war on Iran, and ICE raids. My impression was that the general mood was more serious than at the October event. For example, I saw only one person with an inflatable costume, while there were quite a few at the protest last fall.
All the Portland area No Kings protests were peaceful, with no arrests. Hours after the crowds went home, three individuals were arrested outside the Portland ICE building and charged with throwing rocks at cops and damaging the gate to the facility.
Some of the larger protests elsewhere in Oregon were in Medford (10,000), the state capital of Salem (5,000), Corvallis (4,000) and The Dalles (850). In the Eugene-Springfield area there were a series of events, including a rally of thousands in Springfield.
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CALIFORNIA
By Mark Friedman
LOS ANGELES — A diverse crowd of 50,000 protested here March 28, including a delegation of several hundred unionists from the Service Employees International Union, dozens of workers from the California Teachers Association, delegations from the California Nurses’ union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, UNITE-HERE (garment and hotel workers), Teamsters, Machinists, Steelworkers, Writers Guild and others. Political organizations, including the pro-Palestinian Jewish Voice for Peace, American Civil Liberties Union, and Indivisible, as well as environmental activists of Extinction Rebellion took part.
At least a dozen actions took place in surrounding communities, including San Pedro, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Torrance, and Long Beach, bringing the total participation in the Los Angeles area to 100,000.
As in a number of cities, including Miami, New York, Boston, Minneapolis, and Chicago, Cuba solidarity activists joined these actions to demand “U.S. Hands off Cuba” and an end to the attempt by Washington to starve the Cuban people into submission.
A team of a dozen members of the Los Angeles Hands off Cuba committee distributed 2,000 educational flyers with excerpts of speeches by Cuban leaders. The committee is leading the international Let Cuba Play campaign to oppose the denial of visas to Cuban athletes, effectively blocking them from playing in the 2028 summer Olympics; the campaign received a very favorable reception from demonstrators. The team also won new support for the Labor and Youth Activists delegation to Cuba for May Day; the participants will take with them suitcases of medical aid and solar chargers, aimed at helping the Cuban people counteract the impact of the U.S. blockade.
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PENNSYLVANIA
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FLORIDA
By Pete Seidman
MIAMI — Some 4,000 people gathered here at Tropical Park on March 28, according to organizers. Other demonstrations took place throughout South Florida, including Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Springs, Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Calle Ocho, Homestead, and the Keys.
In the lead-up to the action, some among the organizers of the Tropical Park event tried to turn the action into an anti-Cuba, anticommunist event by rewording the political content of a template provided on the national No Kings website. However, after pushback from other No Kings organizers, the national organizers of the day rejected this alteration of the leaflet.
Having seen copies of the altered flyer, however, the Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba decided to set up a table at Tropical Park. Activists handed out several hundred copies of informational leaflets.
Among the team that staffed the table was a Cuban American who just returned from the Nuestra America (Our America) convoy to Cuba, delivering aid to the nation under siege. Students from the University of Miami and two high schools where the coalition has never held an event expressed an interest in organizing a report back from the convoy.
Among the many Cubans who stopped to talk at our table there was overwhelming opposition to the blockade and friendly support and interest in our ideas, rather than anticommunist views.
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NEW MEXICO
By Yvonne Hayes
CUBA — U.S. highway 550 cuts diagonally from Albuquerque, in the center of New Mexico, to this state’s northwestern corner and the San Juan Basin oil and gas fields. This village of about 700 lies about halfway between. With signs, banners, and flags, about 40 residents — including several from the local teachers’ union — turned out to protest war, inflation, cuts in services, and immigration policies. The mood was particularly upbeat because this was the first time anything like this had ever happened here.
Suzanne Norman is a retired primary physician and has lived in the area for 40 years. She had never organized a protest before but felt she was “called to do so” because of “food insecurity” among the community members she served. Many of the people living in the vast rural area outside the village are Navajo. Norman said she invited the Navajo tribal chapter houses, “but they’re pretty shy about this kind of thing.”
“Afraid they’ll be targeted…,” commented another protester.
The group lined both sides of the highway at a spot where the speed limit is reduced to 25 miles per hour, “so they have to slow down and read our signs,” Norman explained. They were met with lots of honking and waving from vehicles, including every semi-truck driver who passed by.
“Yeah, they’re hurting!” Joanne, a public health nurse, said about the truck drivers. Another protester responded, “It’s the price of diesel… gone way up.”
FARMINGTON — About an 1½-hour drive northwest of Cuba lies this city of about 45,000 on the border of the Navajo Nation. Here some 500 gathered on Main St. at the center of the historic town. The mood was again festive, with speakers and a band under a gazebo in a small park adjacent to the main traffic circle. Protesters lining the circle on both sides of Main St. were greeted with honking horns from the high weekend traffic, people from rural areas in town to shop.
This is not the first No Kings action in the city. But, one protester said, “There are more youth this time.”
Four members of Somos Un Pueblo Unido (We Are a United People) were among the protesters. They have not seen any increase in ICE presence in the area, they said, even though immigrants are a large portion of the workforce in the nearby oil fields. But, they added, a lot of people are afraid and hesitant to leave home. So, in addition to their original mission to provide training — including language instruction — to oil workers, they have been part of organizing infrastructure to support families living under the threat of possible deportation. “We’re ready,” one of them, himself an oil worker, said.
The number of veterans in the crowd was noticeable, although none were there representing any organization. While they all cited the U.S.-Israeli war as the main reason they showed up, their reasons were varied. One Iraq war vet said, “Don’t need to go back there again. Already tried and failed.”
One Vietnam-era vet said he doesn’t usually like to identify himself as such. “I loved being in the Navy, … I had it easy. But for this, I want them to know I’m not some crazy person they try to make protesters out to be. I’m a regular citizen and I served. And I don’t think we have any business over there.”
When asked about the issue they felt was most urgent, the majority said there were just too many things to list. One placard summed it up: “My outrage won’t fit on this sign.”
Nearly 30 other protests took place across New Mexico the same day. Organizers in Albuquerque estimated a crowd of nearly 50,000 while Santa Fe, a smaller city but the state capital, saw a march and rally of 7,000.
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Categories: US Politics