‘No Kings’ protests against Donald Trump planned across US
Thousands of people are expected to gather across America for “No Kings” demonstrations against the direction of the country under Donald Trump.
The president’s Republican Party has called the protests “Hate America” rallies.
This is the third mass mobilisation since Mr Trump’s return to the White House and it is expected to be the largest.
It comes against the backdrop of a US government shutdown that has not only closed federal programmes and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts congress and the courts in ways that organisers warn are a slide towards authoritarianism.
Mr Trump himself is away from Washington at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Mr Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired before he departed for a one million-dollars-per-plate Maga Inc fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
Protests are expected nearby on Saturday.
While large crowds attended protests earlier this year against Elon Musk’s cuts in spring, then to counter Mr Trump’s military parade in June, organisers say this demonstration is building a more unified opposition movement.
Top Democrats such as senate leader Chuck Schumer and Independent senator Bernie Sanders are joining in what organisers view as an antidote to Mr Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, which is among the key organisers.
As Republicans and the White House dismiss the protests as a rally of radicals, Mr Levin said their own sign-up numbers are growing.
More than 2,600 rallies are planned in cities large and small, organised by hundreds of coalition partners. They said rallies are being planned within a one-hour drive for most Americans.
Overseas, a few hundred Americans already gathered in Madrid to chant slogans and hold signs at a protest organized by Democrats Abroad, with similar rallies planned in other major European cities.
Republicans have sought to portray participants in Saturday’s rallies as far outside the mainstream of American politics, and a main reason for the prolonged government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, Republican leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists”.
They say Democratic leaders, including Mr Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch – we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Mr Johnson added, listing groups including “antifa types”, people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display”.
Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.
But for many Democrats, the government closure is also a way to stand up to Mr Trump, and try to push the presidency back to its place in the US system as a co-equal branch of government.
In a Facebook post, Mr Sanders of Vermont, himself a former presidential contender, said, “It’s a love America rally.
“It’s a rally of millions of people all over this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and are not going to let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.”
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