Chaos Unfolds at Nationwide No Kings Demonstrations

Across the nation, the ‘No Kings’ protests against Donald Trump took a tumultuous turn on Saturday, as some demonstrators resorted to violence, throwing concrete blocks at law enforcement and storming federal buildings, which led to numerous arrests.

This marks the third occasion where millions have gathered from coast to coast, rallying against the president. The protests are fueled by discontent over his immigration policies, increasing living costs, and the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Organizers are aiming for this rally to be recorded as the ‘largest political protest’ in the history of the United States.

However, video footage from various cities reveals a different story, showcasing scenes of chaos as protesters clashed with federal agents and counter-demonstrators. So far, at least 10 arrests have been documented.

In Los Angeles, on the West Coast, the Department of Homeland Security reported that approximately ‘1,000 rioters’ converged on the Edward R Roybal Federal Building. This information was shared by Fox News.

The agency said individuals were throwing rocks, bottles and cement blocks at police officers, resulting in two officers needing medical treatment after being struck by debris. 

DHS added that two individuals were arrested for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement officers. 

The announcement came amid reports of protesters hurling cement rocks at DHS agents, while others violently banged on the fence outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. 

‘Multiple’ people were arrested in downtown Los Angeles (pictured) following the ‘No Kings’ nationwide rallies on Saturday

Outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles (pictured), protestors reportedly hurled cement rocks at DHS agents, resulting in the deployment of teargas

Millions gathered coast to coast for coordinated demonstrations against President Donald Trump (Georgia)

Los Angeles declared a ‘tactical alert’ for the city following several clashes (pictured)

Police are seen arresting protestors in downtown Los Angeles

A protestor is seen being knocked to the ground by an LAPD mounted police horse as officers evacuate the area of Metropolitan Detention Center

In footage shared on X, officers responded to the massive crowd with tear gas, sending people scrambling to cover their faces as smoke blanketed the scene. 

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) confirmed to Fox that ‘multiple’ people were arrested for failing to disperse, and that a ‘tactical alert’ was declared for the city, with tear gas deployed. 

In Denver, another video posted to X showed a line of agents advancing on several protesters while tossing smoke bombs in their direction, which the protesters then picked up and threw back. 

Colorado police confirmed to Fox that at least nine people were arrested during the city’s protest, noting that the demonstration remained peaceful until a small group of protesters blocked a road where officers were stationed.

Authorities declared an unlawful assembly and, after repeated orders to disperse were disregarded, deployed smoke to disperse the crowd. When a smoke canister was reportedly thrown back at officers, they responded with pepper balls. 

Masked individuals reportedly tackled federal officers to the ground in Portland hours after more than a dozen demonstrations in the metro came to an end, according to Fox News. 

In video obtained by the outlet, DHS officers were seen clashing with agitators as they shouted expletives outside the city’s ICE facility. 

Words, including ‘nazis,’ were spray-painted on the building, according to Fox. 

Additional footage of the incident showed a large group gathering around the brawl, with some individuals attempting to throw objects and move toward officers. 

DHS said a swarm of around ‘1,000 rioters’ also surrounded the Edward R Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles

A protestor in costume in Los Angeles, featuring a depiction of President Trump’s head on a stick

A demonstrator is seen throwing a tear gas cannister back towards a federal officer in Los Angeles

More than 3,300 rallies erupted across all 50 states (New York)

Organizers are expecting this weekend’s turnout to break records as the ‘single largest nonviolent day of action’ in US history (pictured: arrest in Los Angeles)

The caption claimed arrests were made, though it was unclear whether any occurred or how many. 

Also in Portland, footage on X captured gas‑mask‑wearing demonstrators breaking open the gates to the city’s ICE Detention Center, prompting federal officers to step out. The situation remained a standoff, as neither party advanced forward.

The confrontation grew tense after demonstrators shoved the gates just as they were closing, leading agents to storm out and try to force the crowd back. 

Meanwhile, outside the Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, a shouting match broke out between a ‘No Kings’ protester and a man wearing a shirt that read, ‘DEPORT WHITE LIBERAL WOMEN,’ according to KTLA.

The two men, mere inches apart, screamed at one another while others nearby tried to push the counter-protester back, shouting, ‘Racist, go home!’ 

About twenty seconds later, the counter-protester walked away, yelling into a megaphone: ‘This guy is fighting for illegal aliens,’ while the other man was escorted off.

A separate incident in West Palm Beach, Florida, occurred after protesters appeared to chase a man wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, according to Fox. 

In video obtained by the outlet, a man can be heard screaming at the counter-protestor, ‘F*** off, f*** off,’ while another added, ‘Your whole f***ing party is nothing but f***ing hate. You’re f***ing traitors.’ 

An estimated 200,000 people at Minnesota State Capitol is pictured, marking the ‘largest protest in Minnesota history’

An arrest is captured being made during a rally in Memphis, Tennessee

A ‘Quiet Piggy’ sign is seen in Los Angeles, California

Masked individuals reportedly tackled federal officers to the ground in Portland on Saturday (pictured: arrest in Portland)

In Portland, gas‑mask‑wearing demonstrators broke open the gates of the city’s ICE Detention Center (pictured: police officers stand guard at gates after breach)

Individuals are pictured attempting to break down the gate of Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles

The verbal attack came from both sides, with ‘No Kings’ attendees calling the man’s group ‘pedophile protectors,’ while Trump supporters argued against illegal immigration. 

New York also saw counter-protests across the city, with some participants defending the president by saying ‘he’s not a king’ and claiming their presence was their ‘constitutional right,’ according to Fox Digital. 

‘I’m here to show them that, first of all, the United States – the last time I checked – we don’t have kings. That’s the United Kingdom,’ Trump supporter Ronan told the outlet.

More than 3,300 rallies erupted across all 50 states on Saturday, with organizers expecting the turnout to break records as the ‘single largest nonviolent day of action’ in US history. 

‘Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant. But this is America, and power belongs to the people – not to wannabe kings or their billionaire cronies,’ organizers told BBC. 

Another protestor, who claimed the Trump administration is ‘destroying our country,’ added that the president ‘can’t bomb his way out of the Epstein files,’ according to Fox.

‘There’s a lot of corruption in the White House,’ a second attendee told the outlet. ‘It’s time to clean up.’

The nationwide protests are being funded by around 500 communist and socialist groups, bringing in an estimated $3 billion a year, Fox News Digital revealed on Saturday.

Protestors are captured holding signs and upside down American flags in downtown Los Angeles, with cement blocks later used to throw seen on the left

An individual walks away as federal agents deploy tear gas at demonstrators in Los Angeles

Federal agents are seen deploying teargas in Los Angeles

DHS agents in riot gear seen arresting masked protestor near the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center

Two individuals are seen getting treated after being teargassed in Los Angeles

In June 2025, more than five million people attended No Kings demonstrations. Just months later, in October, that number swelled to seven million. 

At this stage, a real-time headcount of this weekend’s protests is nearly impossible to determine, though estimates place attendance at at least eight million. 

A White House spokesperson described the rallies as ‘Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions,’ insisting the only people who care are ‘reporters getting paid,’ according to the outlet.

Nevertheless, scenes of massive crowds have surfaced in major cities across Minnesota, California, Illinois, Washington DC, New York and Florida, with more than 40 protests planned in the small state of Vermont alone.  

Protesters flooded the streets, suburbs and small towns, as crowds danced and waved signs on issues ranging from ‘ICE Needs to Melt’ to ‘We Can’t Afford the War or the Gas.’ 

From New York City, a bustling metropolis of nearly 8.5 million in a blue state, to the small eastern Idaho town of Driggs, with fewer than 2,000 residents, people rallied across the country – including in states Trump carried decisively in 2024. 

‘We’ve got to rise up,’ Mitch Campbell, 72, told The New York Times during a protest in Oxford, Mississippi. He held a sign that read: ‘No Kings Except Elvis.’

‘It’s reached a point now where – how can people ignore this?’ he added. ‘They’re just trampling on the Constitution. Whether it’s gas, or the tariffs, or cost of living, or whatever, I mean, we’re just not paying attention.’

In the Big Apple, protesters marched south from Midtown carrying anti‑ICE, anti‑Trump and anti‑Iran signs, as well as a large sign depicting the Declaration of Independence (pictured)

A White House spokesperson described the rallies as ‘Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions’ (Alaska) 

A picture shows demonstrators holding up sticks attached with faces depicting political figures in Washington, DC 

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, described Trump as the nation’s ‘Bully in Chief’ (New York)

The protest is driven by anger over Trump’s immigration crackdown, rising costs and the ongoing war in Iran (California)

An estimated 200,000 people packed the Minnesota State Capitol, where Governor Tim Walz welcomed Bruce Springsteen and a roster of big‑name speakers and performers, from Bernie Sanders and Joan Baez to Maggie Rogers.

‘This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis,’ Springsteen said on the St Paul stage. ‘Well, they picked the wrong city.’ 

Jane Fonda, 88, who has conducted a rollercoaster half-century career in leftist activism alongside her movie stardom, was also among those in attendance.

She explained that she was ‘not gonna make a speech ’cause we’re running late and there’s a bunch of people who have to catch planes.’ 

Instead, she read a statement from Renee Good’s girlfriend Becca Good, who is often referred to as her ‘wife’ but to whom she was not legally married. 

The crowd also marked the ‘largest protest in Minnesota history,’ according to The Washington Post. 

On the West Coast, rallies took place in downtown Los Angeles, where over 40 protests were planned across multiple counties, drawing hundreds of thousands in Beverly Hills, Burbank, West Covina, West Hollywood, and Thousand Oaks. 

Amid thousands of signs and American flags, a giant blimp of Trump as a diaper-wearing baby bobbed above the crowds. 

Protestors walk past the Trump tower during a No Kings protest in New York City

Demonstrators march in Portland, Oregon

A giant blimp of Trump as a diaper-wearing baby bobbed above the crowds in Los Angeles

In the nation’s capital, where Trump has reshaped the federal workforce and used his executive power to alter the city’s landmarks, protestors marked across Fredrick Douglas Memorial Bridge

‘I’m very disturbed by the degradation of human beings and the destruction of our democracy under this Trump tyranny,’ Rossana Foote, 62, told the Los Angeles Times, describing Trump’s administration as ‘inhumane.’

‘We need to come together to show a strong voice, a strong movement that there are no kings, no one’s above the law,’ she added.

California protestors included Kathy Griffin, who recently declared herself ‘un-canceled’ after her career was torpedoed by a 2017 scandal over a video of her holding Trump’s severed head in effigy.

The stand-up comic carried a sign that on one side denounced ICE as ‘Trump’s lawless militia’ and on the other demanded ‘Justice for Pretti and Good.’ 

In the suburb of Studio City, Annette Bening joined the demonstrators on the sidewalk, holding up a sign with a drawing of Mary Poppins.

‘Super Callous Fragile Nihilistic Extra Halitosis,’ the sign read, meant to be sung to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

In the Big Apple, protesters marched south from Midtown carrying anti‑ICE, anti‑Trump and anti‑Iran signs alongside Manhattan’s flashing billboards. 

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, described Trump as the nation’s ‘Bully in Chief,’ according to NBC 4 New York News.

Demonstrators rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Americans living in Australia and their supporters attend a No Tyrants rally in Sydney

‘They want us all to be afraid to protest. They want us to be afraid that there’s nothing we can do to stop them. But you know what? They are wrong – dead wrong,’ she said.

In Glens Falls, 57‑year‑old Marsha Luzier stood among the crowd, one of many protesters who brought up the war in Iran – where at least a dozen US troops were wounded in a Friday Iranian strike on a base in Saudi Arabia. 

Her partner, Jake Shumaker, 49, has a brother who is a combat veteran and was seriously injured after completing three tours in Iraq.

‘Our military is being deployed for oil,’ he told The Washington Post. ‘Or to cover for the Epstein files – let’s be honest.’

The Manhattan branch of the No Kings protests attracted such names as Padma Lakshmi, who gave a speech at a press conference during the event. 

Robert De Niro, a longstanding fierce critic of the Trump administration, could be glimpsed wearing an: ‘I [heart] NY’ pin amid a column of marchers.

In the nation’s capital, where Trump has reshaped the federal workforce and used his executive power to alter the city’s landmarks, protesters held signs reading, ‘Fight for democracy.’ 

‘Earlier, I was afraid of losing my job,’ federal worker Kim, 56, told The Washington Post.

‘But after starting multiple wars and foreign invasions – and persecuting Americans and “to-be Americans” – that broke some terror water in me,’ she added.

Demonstrations have broken out in Boston, Nashville and Houston, while smaller cities like Shelbyville, Kentucky and Howell, Michigan, also took part. 

Crowds have also formed overseas. In Paris, London, and Lisbon, protesters carried signs labeling Trump a ‘fascist’ and a ‘war criminal,’ while calling for his impeachment and removal from office, according to BBC.

Protestors have also congregated in Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam, Sydney and Tokyo, among other big cities. 

Trump’s approval ratings are at new lows and even parts of his MAGA base are expressing frustration. 

Many object to a war with Iran that has killed 13 US service members and sent gas prices surging.