New Yorkers Call For "No Kings"

Last weekend, more than 100,000 people across New York City’s five boroughs gathered for "No Kings" protests. The largest event took place in Manhattan, where tens of thousands of protestors marched from Times Square, down Seventh Avenue to 14th Street.

The event was part of a nationwide "No Kings" movement that rallied more than seven million people across the country, with demonstrations in over 2,700 cities, according to the No Kings website. The protests also were projected to have drawn larger crowds than the first round of "No Kings" rallies in June.

The Manhattan event started with a press conference at 9 a.m. by "No Kings" organizers, including members from 50501 NY, Indivisible, Refuse Fascism and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

“We’re out here to say no kings, no shredding of due process, no fascism, Trump must go now,” said Travis Morales, a member of Refuse Fascism.

By 11 a.m., thousands of attendees had gathered in Father Duffy Square, many of them wearing shirts and bandanas with a "No Kings" logo. Several protestors also came dressed as Lady Liberty or Superman. However, the most popular costume was a frog, a symbol that has come to represent the movement.

Monty Isom was one attendee who came dressed in an inflatable frog costume. He explained that the frog symbol has grown after a similarly dressed protestor in Portland was pepper sprayed. “The brutality that ICE has been showing to American citizens as well as immigrants is really really difficult to do on someone who is in an absurd blowup frog costume,” Isom said.

The "No Kings" movement opposes President Trump and his administration: the presidency is not a monarchy. Participants in the protests say the current administration is descending into authoritarianism. Their signs specifically highlighted the ongoing government shutdown and recent mobilization of the National Guard in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles.

Lisa Dove, a protester, said that hope comes from action and that she was glad to see people of all ages attending the rally. “There’s so much happening it feels hopeless," she said, "but I feel like community is what’s going to bring it together, even if nobody sees it."

Murad Awawdeh, the President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, also attended. He said that fascism and authoritarianism are rising and that people need to fight back. “But we’re not going to live in fear, we’re going to live in our bravery and our courage in this moment to fight back and make sure that we continue to uphold our nation,” Awawdeh said.

The protest was high energy as attendees marched down Seventh Avenue, chanting, playing music and singing. Hundreds of banners and signs filled the streets, reading "Trump Must Go Now," "No Kings since 1776," and "I like my Manhattan straight no ICE."

Rachel Contos, a fifth year Ph.D. student at Fordham University, participated in the protest and said she made friends while marching. “It just seems like New York City is giving a big middle finger to the administration and saying we are not going to sit and let you take over and be the king of our country,” Contos said. “We’re gonna to fight for democracy, and we are going to be joyous while we do it.”

According to the NYPD, no arrests were made across any of the New York City protests. They also said all attendees dispersed peacefully at the end of the Manhattan march.