“No Kings Since 1776”
Blueprint Photo/Gavin Lee
Lily Foster and Savannah Martinez, Staff Writers
Signs decorate the sky and chants chorus through the streets as a political protest fills Walnut Creek.
On June 14, 2025, the No Kings movement took initial action by planning protests in more than 2,000 locations with an estimated five million participants. These events aimed to lessen the impact of President Donald Trump’s military birthday parade and raise awareness of their goal, to ensure that America has No Kings. These nationwide protests returned on Saturday, Oct. 18, with over seven million participants at more than 2,700 events.
At the Walnut Creek protest, approximately 8,000 people filled the streets of Broadway Plaza, grouped carrying signs, with some reading “No Kings Since 1776,” “Fight Ignorance, Not Immigrants,” and “Presidents Are Not Kings.” Many participants also wore costumes corresponding to their sign like “MAGA is Bananas,” in a banana costume and “Bee Courageous," in a bee costume.
Members of the Indivisible ReSisters Contra Costa organization took charge of the protest by planning activities, including peaceful advocacy for democracy, speeches, listening to elected representatives, live performances, and music.
There were No Kings-themed crafts available for attendees to partake in, including an art tent set up where participants could contribute to a banner covered with drawings and messages.
“The kids and teenagers, adults alike, are adding to this large ‘RESIST’ banner that is intended to be displayed in our local area up over the overpass, and it's just about adding more of the thoughts and feelings and what people are bringing here, because strength in numbers is everything right now,” Indivisible ReSisters volunteer Carin Musak said.
Businesses in Walnut Creek, such as Tesla, were boarded up and closed during the protest, though participants were undeterred.
Participants gathered in large numbers across the nation, peacefully voicing their concerns.
“I believe that everybody deserves basic human rights. And those basic human rights are being stripped from us in mass numbers and at lightning speed,” protester Annabelle Kassambe said. “People understand the importance of freedom of speech, no dictators, no kings. That it's about the Constitution. I'm upholding our civil liberties.”
Bay Area residents who took part in the Walnut Creek protest described it as positive and uplifting.
“Peaceful, encouraging, there are a lot of people, there are a lot of smiles, a lot of high fives, a lot of people, really just happy to be out here,” protestor Sabrina Thor said.
The age range was broad throughout the crowd, as retired veterans marched alongside school-age children.
“Boomers are marching for your future,” Riebel said. “Because most of the marches I've been to, they're all old people ... I wonder where the young people are.”
Other attendees were protesting not for their own children, but for the young women who came out as victims in the alleged Epstein Files. Many protestors were there to demand the release of the hypothesized list of clients of Jeffrey Epstein.
“As a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic abuse, I think it's so important to believe women,” Musak said. “With what's happened to the girls in Epstein, it's about protecting our children, because, yes, they were young teenagers, but people forget that they are minor children.”
Many female protestors also felt that the women in President Trump’s administration did not represent them. Furthermore, many attendees created signs highlighting their frustration with the government's handling of immigration and its recent shutdown.
“My poster says, ‘Immigrants work harder than our government.’ I think we people come here with hopes and dreams, and they have opportunities, and they go towards those opportunities and work hard. And our government is not working hard right now,” Thor said.
In response to the protests, President Trump released an Artificial Intelligence-generated video. It depicts the president wearing a crown while flying a fighter jet over protests and dumping what appears to be feces onto the people below.
In a White House interview on Oct. 19, President Trump acknowledged the protests.
“The demonstrations were very small, very ineffective, and the people were whacked out,” Trump said.
Although No Kings does not have its next protest date planned, many of the protestors have plans of their own.
“Inaction is complicity; if you're not out there protesting, you're basically showing that you agree with what's happening,” Kassambe said. “Whether it's protesting, whether it's making calls to politicians, whether it's writing postcards, whether it's talking, especially to other young people who may feel like they don't have any power, we all have a voice.”
Blueprint Photo/Gavin Lee
