Live Updates: Protesters Fill Streets Across the U.S. to Oppose Trump Policies
Protesters filled plazas, streets and parks across the country on Saturday, mounting a mass mobilization that called for protecting American democracy from a president that many demonstrators decried as authoritarian. The protests set off in waves as the day progressed, in small towns and major cities including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston and Atlanta, beginning hours before President Trump was set to host a military parade in Washington.
The No Kings events in all 50 states were animated by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, domestic military mobilization, federal spending cuts and the parade, which was coinciding with the president's 79th birthday. Many demonstrators struck patriotic themes, waving American flags, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or carrying signs referencing the nation's founding fathers.
Carlie Woods, 21, protesting with her father and sister in Springfield, Mass., said she had nearly lost her voice from cheering as she carried a sign featuring an American flag and a 'Power to the People' message. 'A lot of times it can feel very doom and gloom,' she said, 'but this makes you feel like you're not alone, to be around so many people fighting for our future.'
Speakers at a rally outside the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., paid tribute to State Representative Melissa Hortman, the Democratic lawmaker who was assassinated overnight by a person pretending to be a police officer. Organizers called off other rallies in the state as investigators said the attacker, who remained at large, may have also planned to target the protests.
Hours later, the authorities in Texas evacuated the State Capitol and its grounds 'out of an abundance of caution' after receiving what they described as a credible threat toward state legislators who were expected to attend the protest in Austin.
Organizers of the No Kings demonstrations called on participants to focus on 'nonviolent action.' In Houston, some demonstrators handed out flowers to police officers who were securing the route of the protest. In Chicago, the police superintendent helped a woman who tripped on the street near him.
While many of the events drew large crowds, conflicts were rare: Police in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood of northern Atlanta deployed tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators who were headed toward a highway, and police in Charlotte, N.C., sprayed a chemical irritant at protesters attempting to move past a line of officers.
The protests come amid building outrage over raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles that led to mass demonstrations and conflicts with law enforcement. The city has emerged as the epicenter of anxiety over immigration enforcement and has seen days of sustained protests; the authorities there said they were bracing for crowd sizes on Saturday that could be 'unprecedented.'
Some 2,000 events were planned from coast to coast. In Atlanta, thousands of people packed into Liberty Plaza, carrying signs that included the message 'Stop Trump's Terrorism' and singing a rendition of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' adjusted with the words 'Take Trump out of the White House.' In Greenville, Ohio, where Democrats are rare, protesters gathered even as police warned that anyone blocking the road would go to jail.
Here's what else to know:
Military parade: No Kings organizers avoided calling for demonstrations in Washington, where the military parade was set to go on despite a forecast of possibly severe storms. Mr. Trump warned that anyone seeking to protest at the parade would be met with 'very big force.'
The speakers: In Newark, U.S. Representative LaMonica Mclver stood in front of a statue of Abraham Lincoln outside the Essex County courthouse and struck a tone of defiance. Ms. Mclver, who faces federal charges related to a confrontation at a migrant detention center last month, said she would not be silenced or intimidated. 'We have to be on the front lines to fight for democracy,' she said. In Philadelphia, Martin Luther King III told the crowd, 'We will not let democracy die on our watch.'
Los Angeles crackdown : In the months before the immigration raids in Los Angeles, the Trump administration and immigrant rights groups had been preparing for conflict. Then the message arrived: 'ICE is here,' one father wrote. 'They're going to take us.' Read more ›
Shifting priorities: The Trump administration recently shifted the focus of its mass deportation campaign, telling immigration officials to largely pause raids and arrests in hotels, restaurants and the agricultural industry. Read more ›
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A monthslong stay in 'a teenage jail' Robyn Gillespie stepped outside the Gainesville McDonald's she managed when she saw a call from the Department of Juvenile Justice. That can't be true, she said, when Cayden told her his sentence was far longer than expected. So Cayden, still sitting next to his case manager, put down the phone and asked her again: Ma'am, you said six to nine months, right? Gillespie hung up and cried. 'They wouldn't understand him,' she remembers thinking. Gillespie's husband, Kenny Roach, initially thought going to juvenile detention could help Cayden, who had grown out of control. The family had recently moved to Florida to care for aging relatives, but Cayden's beloved older brother decided to return to Virginia, where they'd lived before. Cayden, who has autism, struggled being in a new place without his brother. He began leaving the house in the evening with neighborhood teens when the parents worked late. That led to shoplifting and, eventually, credit-card fraud. Roach and Gillespie pressed charges against their son. 'He really needs to get a week in a detention home,' Roach thought. As a youth, he himself had gone to juvenile detention twice, for as long as two weeks, and credited it for a life turnaround. 'I thought it would be a learning experience.' When he learned Cayden's time in the juvenile detention system would last much longer, he was in shock. 'Good lord, what do they hope to accomplish? A kid his age, with his diagnosis?' Roach remembers thinking. 'That's like being in a teenage jail.' Life in custody: Not much privacy, avoiding a 'level freeze' Cayden and the other detainees inside Orlando Youth Academy woke up every day at 6 a.m. and cleaned their cells. Only when they passed inspection could they enter the common area. Each detained youth had a toilet in their cell. 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Three different people held that job during the nine months he attended virtual school inside Orlando Youth Academy. When Cayden threw the desk out of frustration with the new online learning program, he received a 'level freeze' of three to five days, essentially extending his time at the residential commitment center. It's easy to tumble into 'dead time' Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press, plus interviews with parents, staff and outside specialists, show staff have recommended or given level freezes when students have broken laptops, refused to log into Zoom and even sent an email to ask for help initiating an online class. And when students don't participate in virtual school, the department's written protocol calls for taking away points they earn toward getting out. 'Students who have their heads down will be prompted by the teacher no more than two times to sit up and participate,' reads the Classroom Behavior Management Plan for Florida's juvenile justice schools. The first time Xavier Nicoll, 15, broke a laptop at his residential commitment center in Miami, it was because an online teacher wouldn't respond to his questions, according to his grandmother, Julie, who has raised him. He was arrested and sent to a different detention center to face charges. The three weeks he spent there didn't count toward his overall sentence because he can't receive 'treatment' there. Detainees call it 'dead time.' Once back at the residential center, he broke another laptop, his grandmother says, because a teen dared him to. Back he went to county detention and court for more dead time. Then, in January, when the in-person class supervisor wouldn't help him get into a locked online assignment, he broke a third, says Julie Nicoll. Xavier was initially meant to be held for six to nine months after breaking into a vape store. He's now on track to be confined at least 28 months. He's grown at least five inches in detention — and gone through puberty. Yet in school, Nicoll said in April, he was making no progress. 'He went in as an eighth grader and is still an eighth grader — and failing,' Nicoll said. Xavier's March report card showed he was earning a 34% in Civics and Career Planning, 12% in Pre-Algebra, 13% in Comprehensive Science and 58% in Language Arts. Nicoll has complained that her grandson, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, hasn't been receiving special education services. The Department of Juvenile Justice and Florida Virtual School have canceled multiple meetings to discuss his education plan because Xavier keeps getting arrested and sent for dead time. 'He's trapped,' says Nicoll. 'No matter what we do, we can't seem to get him out.' Trouble rejoining the community? Nicoll and her husband have spent more than $20,000 in legal fees trying to win his release. They argue untreated brain inflammation due to mold exposure in detention, plus his disability, make it impossible for him to control his frustration during online school. In May, Xavier was arrested a fourth time. After turning in an assignment, he realized he'd made a mistake and asked the in-class supervisor to return it. The supervisor wouldn't give back his work, and he broke another laptop. Xavier pleaded guilty in August to two felonies for breaking laptops. 'They're setting him up to go into the community a failure," said Nicoll. It's unclear how many students are getting in trouble or extending their time because of behavior during virtual school. Arrests inside residential centers increased slightly in the first nine months after the department adopted virtual school, compared with the same period during the previous year. An analysis of publicly available data shows staff use of verbal and physical interventions has also risen slightly, to 2.4 physical or verbal interventions per 100 days from 1.8 interventions the previous year. The total number of youth in Florida's residential commitment centers increased to 1,388 in June, the latest data reported by the state, up 177 since July 2024, when the department adopted virtual instruction. That could indicate detainees are staying in confinement longer. 'Correlation does not equal causation," responded Amanda Slama, a Department of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman. "Other contributing factors could explain an increase in arrests if there is one.' Since December, the department has ignored or refused AP requests to visit juvenile confinement, speak to officials and release anonymized exit documents for students leaving commitment centers. Not all students are getting in trouble during online schooling, but that doesn't mean they're learning. Jalen Wilkinson, 17, received punishment during detention for fighting, but his father was unaware of punishment related to school. But when school went online in July 2024, Jalen started complaining that there weren't enough adults to help students with the virtual program. School, he says, is basically free time. Jalen has been especially frustrated that he couldn't complete his GED while confined — even though Florida Virtual School leaders say they've made it easier for detainees to take the exam. He was released in July. His father, John Terry, worries the time locked up was a waste and Jalen will struggle to re-enter high school and graduate. 'There's no rehabilitation whatsoever." Cayden is still trying to restart school In March, shackled with an ankle monitor, Cayden Gillespie finally left Orlando Youth Academy. The six to nine months his case manager predicted turned into 15. Between that and the 'dead time' waiting for a residential center bed, he was detained 19 months. Through therapy at the residential center, Cayden learned how to recognize his anger building and to take a break. His parents say the family therapy helped them better understand Cayden's needs and helped them all communicate. 'But the school part," Robyn Gillespie says, "that was a disaster.' Gillespie, her husband and Cayden are still trying to understand the consequences of going so long without proper schooling. Initially, they thought he'd go to the local public middle school, but the school said, at 15, he's too old. This spring, they tried to sign him up for Florida Virtual School, the same program he did in custody. Indeed, this was one of the arguments the state made for using virtual school inside confinement. But Robyn Gillespie says Florida Virtual told them he couldn't join so late in the year. Asked about Cayden's case, Florida Virtual said all students 'released from a facility receive one-on-one support from an FLVS transition specialist.' But Cayden's family said they were never offered transition help or told how he could continue where he left off in detention. The best option, they've been told by the local school district, is a charter school, where he can make up coursework quickly. 'That's the kind of place where they dismiss you if you don't show up on time,' says Robyn Gillespie. 'And there's no transportation. I'm just not sure that's going to work well for our family.' The terms of Cayden's probation require him to attend school or face confinement again. He starts at the charter school later this month. Says Gillespie: 'He has to be in school.' ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Public Welfare Foundation for reporting focused on criminal justice, and AP's education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at Bianca Vázquez Toness, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Axios
5 minutes ago
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