Large crowds attend ‘No Kings’ rallies against Trump across US

Tens of thousands of anti-Trump and anti-Iran war protesters have been attending “No Kings” rallies on Saturday across the US.

More than 3,200 events ‌were planned in all 50 states, and organisers hoped it would be the biggest single-day protest in US history, with rallies in cities such as Washington DC, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as further afield in London and Paris.

Organisers expected nine million people would take part in America this time, after the first two rounds of rallies last June and October attracted five million and seven million respectively.

The flagship rally on Saturday was in the state of Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot dead in January by federal agents in the city of Minneapolis as they monitored a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Around 100,000 were expected to attend as people stood on the Minnesota Capitol lawn and surrounding streets in St Paul, with Bruce Springsteen headlining the event.

The US singer performed his song Streets of Minneapolis which he wrote in response to the two fatal shootings.

Springsteen said that people pushing back against US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) had given the rest of the country hope.

“Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America,” he said.

“And this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities, will not stand.”

The rallies came as Donald Trump‘s approval rating fell to 36%, which is its lowest point since he returned to power, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the rallies were backed by “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.

The “only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them”, Ms Jackson said in a statement.

And Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, criticised ‌Democratic politicians and candidates for supporting the rallies.

Meanwhile, vice president JD Vance was the Conservative Political Action Conference’s choice this ‌year to be the next Republican nominee for US president, ahead of secretary of state Marco Rubio, according to a poll.

In Washington DC, hundreds of people marched past the Lincoln Memorial and into the National Mall, holding signs that read “Put down the crown, clown” and “Regime change begins at home”.

Demonstrators also rang bells, played drums and chanted “No Kings”.

In New York, thousands gathered in Manhattan, where actor Robert De Niro said “there have been other presidents who have tested the constitutional limits of their power, but none have ​been such an existential threat to our freedoms and security”.

In San Diego, police said about 40,000 people marched in a “No Kings” event.

But organisers said two thirds of the rallies were expected to take place outside major city centres.

They included communities in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Louisiana, as well as in suburban areas of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

The first No Kings day of protest in June 2025 was organised amid Mr Trump’s decision to hold a military parade in Washington on his birthday.

At the time, the president told reporters that “if there’s any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force”.

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Meanwhile in London, people protesting against the US-Israeli war in Iran held banners that said “Stop the far right” and “Stand up to Racism”.

And in Paris, several hundred people, mostly Americans living in France, along with those from French labour unions and human rights organisations, gathered at the Bastille.

In Rome, thousands of people took part in a march against conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. They also protested at the Israeli and US attacks on Iran, calling for “a world free from wars”.