Nationwide ‘No Kings’ protests against Donald Trump have descended into chaos with cops forced to deploy tear gas against violent demonstrators hurling rocks and clashes across the country.

For the third time, millions gathered coast to coast on Saturday for coordinated demonstrations against the president, driven by anger over his immigration crackdown, rising costs and the ongoing war in Iran.

Organizers expect the rally to become the ‘largest political protest’ in American history.  

On the West Coast, protesters reportedly hurled cement rocks at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, while others banged violently on the fence outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

In footage shared on X, DHS agents responded to the massive crowd with tear gas, sending people scrambling to cover their faces as smoke blanketed the scene. Police reported several arrests for failing to disperse.

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. 

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 News. 

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

Millions gathered coast to coast on Saturday for coordinated ‘No Kings’ demonstrations against President Donald Trump (Georgia)

A demonstrator is arrested during a ‘No Kings’ protest in Memphis, Tennessee

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 (Alaska)

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. 

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

More than 3,300 rallies erupted across all 50 states, 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. 

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 measure. 

A White House spokesperson described the protests 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.  

An estimated 200,000 people packed the Minnesota State Capitol, marking the ‘largest protest in Minnesota history’ (pictured)

A protestor in a costume at the No Kings rally in Los Angeles, California, where a depiction of President Trump’s is on a stick

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

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.’

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.’ 

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)

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

Demonstrators march in Portland, Oregon

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. 

‘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.’ 

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

Demonstrators rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

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

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.

‘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.