Thousands of protesters hit the streets to challenge President Donald Trump’s agenda at “No Kings” demonstrations in Arizona and nationwide.
From New York City to Los Angeles, scores of people turned out for the roughly 2,700 No Kings protests across the United States. It was the latest countrywide day of protest during Trump’s second term in the White House.
Organizers said they were protesting a wide range of Trump administration policies, including the president’s immigration crackdown in cities like Chicago, as well as funding cuts for programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
They also pointed to the president’s decision to send the U.S. National Guard into Washington, D.C., as another reason to protest.
“When millions of Americans take to the street and say, ‘There are no kings in America,’ that’s how we will win,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Arizona, said at a protest near the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix.
No Kings organizers called the event “one of the largest single-day nationwide demonstrations in U.S. history” and said they estimated nearly 7 million people gathered at demonstrations across the country. The crowd was larger than the estimated 5 million people who turned out for a No Kings nationwide protest in June, they said.
There were more than 60 protests planned in Arizona on Oct. 18, an increase from the roughly 40 rallies that took place in the Grand Canyon State during that No Kings protest day on June 14.
Thousands gathered at the Arizona Capitol with signs, flags and bullhorns. Protesters cheered as speakers criticized Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Speakers also discussed the ability for people to have health care and the Israel-Hamas war. Trump brokered a ceasefire deal in that conflict days earlier.
An estimated 14,000 to 15,000 protesters gathered at the state Capitol, according to Sgt. Kameron Lee, spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
One person was arrested after blocking the roadway and refusing to move their vehicle, Lee said, adding that the person was later transported for medical reasons but remains subject to arrest.
Protesters were vehement that they would not bend the knee to the Trump administration and said they would continue to show up and protest.
“You can’t fit everything he’s done on to one sign,” Dave Tappley said.
Before protesters marched, Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes took the stage. Mayes brought up her office’s lawsuits against Trump and spoke to the power that Arizona residents have to stand up to the administration.
“Arizona, are you running to fight for your Constitution? Are you ready to fight for your country?” Mayes said. “You are! You’re ready to tell Donald Trump that we do not have kings in this country!”
Some saw the protest as just the beginning. They said real impact would come from people withholding their time and money from corporations that had bent the knee to the Trump administration.
Phil Rinn was among those who felt the momentum needed to continue through a general strike, halting the flow of work and consumerism until substantial changes were made.
“We need to withhold our labor, withhold our spending,” Rinn said. “It should be a people’s movement.”
Some protesters wore inflatable costumes to signal that their protest was nonviolent. The blow-up suits were inspired by protesters in Portland, Oregon, who donned the costumes after Trump said he would deploy federal troops there. Protesters in Phoenix included those dressed as inflatable chickens and dinosaurs.
“I really look up to the protests in Portland, how they keep it super peaceful and happy,” said Phoenix resident Janell Kider Weaver, 59, who wore a green T-Rex costume. “People see the costume and start dancing a little. It’s an energy thing.”
Michael Walker, 36, from Gilbert, wore a bright tie-dye shirt and a lower-body chicken inflatable that made it appear as if he were riding the gigantic bird. He stood in the chaos of people crossing from Wesley Bolin Plaza onto the state Capitol grounds.
“Donald Trump does not represent Jesus. Donald Trump does not represent peace, love, or anything along those lines,” Walker said. “He’s a habitual liar. He never stops lying. For him to be president is extremely concerning,” Walker added.
Deb Scott, 47, and a member of the Navajo and Salt River tribes, came to the event not to protest Trump, but to call awareness to pro-Palestinian efforts.
“I came out here because I saw a post saying people shouldn’t bring Palestine flags to this event,” Scott said. “That really pushed me to come out and make a big sign, and to bring my flag.”
Protesters gathered in dozens of other Arizona cities and towns, including Flagstaff, Prescott Valley, Yuma and Tucson. Smaller communities like Sierra Vista and Show Low also planned No Kings demonstrations.
Protesters lined a road in Prescott Valley, holding signs and wearing inflatable costumes, according to photos posted to Facebook by the Yavapai County Democratic Party. In Sedona, video showed a crowd of people holding signs along State Route 89A. Payson protesters also donned costumes and held signs, too.
Farther north, thousands gathered in front of Flagstaff City Hall while passing cars honked at them, video posted by KNAU showed.
In Scottsdale, thousands lined the intersection of Scottsdale and Camelback roads starting at about 9 a.m., with city sidewalks crammed shoulder to shoulder with protesters. Event organizer Mary Beth Furman said an estimated 5,000 people were expected to show up to protest.
Among them were Scottsdale couple Denise and Rich Heinrich, one of the many attendees wearing themed costumes.
Rich Heinrich wore an Uncle Sam inspired outfit, while Denise Heinrich wore signs calling out Trump’s connections to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Geezers, get out there and fight for your country. Everybody, every age. You’re not too old to resist,” said Denise Heinrich, 73.
She and her husband stopped regularly to take a photo with eager protesters.
“I’m worried about this country. Our democracy could very easily disappear,” said Rich Heinrich, 76.
“To see this country turn into a third world dictatorship is sickening,” he said.
Nearby, Cindy Tommaso, 66, Joanne Bolnick, 76, and Caroll Brody, 78, all live in the same neighborhood and carried signs together.
“I’m here for Medicare, for my children, for all the immigrants that are getting deported to countries they don’t even know,” Brody said. “I protested in the ’60s during Vietnam, in New York City on Fifth Avenue. It’s important that generations keep doing it.”
Bolnick is a retired federal employee who worked for the U.S. Department of Defense.
“I’m fighting for the federal employees and democracy, and for my eight grandkids,” she said.
On the intersection corner where crowds were dense, Tom Angelo, 64, played his red accordion as a background track to the chaotic protest.
“I don’t play perfect, but democracy isn’t perfect either,” he said.
Angelo attended a June No Kings protest in Scottsdale, and said he was proud the gathering was big but also peaceful.
The protests came as the federal government shutdown stretched into a third week. Federal workers, including active-duty military members, missed their first paychecks of the shutdown on Oct. 15.
The protests were put on by a coalition of left-leaning groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Federation of Teachers, Common Defense, 50501, the Human Rights Campaign, Indivisible, the League of Conservation Voters and MoveOn, among others.
“President Trump and his allies are abusing their power and attempting to scare their own citizens away from exercising our rights and freedoms,” Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer at the ACLU, said in a virtual news conference ahead of the protests. “The best way to protect our freedom is to act free.”
Trump knocked the protests, saying during a Fox Business interview, “They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king.”
Other Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have also criticized the protests. Johnson called it a “hate America rally” and said he believed “pro-Hamas supporters,” “antifa-types” and “Marxists” would attend the protests.
Mesa resident Jennifer Brack, 47, challenged that characterization.
“The amount of people that are out today proves that this is a love America rally, not an ‘I Hate America Rally,’” said Brack, who wore a handmaiden outfit inspired by the novel and TV show “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
There were other protests planned across metro Phoenix, including in cities like Fountain Hills, Mesa, Scottsdale and Tempe. U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Arizona, joined a No Kings protest in Chandler.
A morning protest in Goodyear drew some 1,000 demonstrators, organizer Jen Spencer said. Four hundred protesters turned out in Apache Junction, including two in inflatable frog and penguin costumes, the city’s local Democratic Party said on social media.Protesters at a No Kings demonstration in Tucson included U.S. Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Arizona. Grijalva won a special election to fill her late father’s seat in September but has not been officially sworn in to the Republican-controlled House.
Looming over Grijalva’s swearing-in is her support for a measure that would require a vote to release the Epstein investigative files.
Protesters chanted “Swear her in!” as Grijalva placed her hand on her heart.
Back in Phoenix, the Epstein files were also on the mind of a protester who was pardoned by Trump months ago.
Jake Angeli, also known as the “QAnon Shaman,” arrived at the protest in the famed horned outfit and face paint he donned when he broke into the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.
Angeli pleaded guilty to a felony and was imprisoned. Trump pardoned Angeli, and nearly everyone charged in the riot, on the first day of his second term in the White House.
Angeli carried a sign with depictions of Epstein, music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was recently sentenced to prison in a sex crimes case, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Promises made, promises broken. If Trump isn’t going to release the Epstein files, then he needs to be held accountable. He made that promise,” Angeli said.
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