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Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of US cities and towns on Saturday in a wave of protests against the Trump administration as the US president staged a controversial military parade in Washington.
Large crowds were reported in 50 states, with turnout in major cities, including Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles, larger than anticipated. Organisers of the “No Kings” marches said they had drawn more than 5mn participants across the US.
“It was just a giant sea of people,” said Sangita Myska, a British broadcast presenter who was on holiday in New York.
“The atmosphere was really friendly. Every different person I talked to had a different profession — software engineers, teachers — a massive cross section of people.”
Myska said there was a “weird sense of hopelessness in the body politic, and a determination that the people will be heard — that there are rights enshrined in the constitution and people will exercise them.”
The protests, known as the No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance, are a response to what the organisers describe as a shift towards authoritarianism and the militarisation of democracy. They are expected to be the largest since Donald Trump began his second term in the White House.
As the masses filled the streets, a $40mn military parade was being staged in Washington to commemorate the US Army’s 250th anniversary. The event was held on Trump’s 79th birthday, prompting some critics to decry it as a militaristic display of self-aggrandisement by the US president.
Trump appeared shortly after 6pm, sitting next to his wife Melania and defence secretary Pete Hegseth, as the parade began slightly ahead of schedule in a bid to beat the DC rain.
Tanks drove down Constitution Avenue to guitar-heavy instrumentals of AC/DC hit Thunderstruck and Van Halen’s 80s rock classic Jump, capping a parade presenting a “greatest hits” of the US Army’s battles since George Washington fought at Yorktown.
Meanwhile, in downtown Los Angeles, where protests against raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been held since June 6, thousands marched around City Hall and surrounding streets. They chanted “ICE out of LA” while an inflatable balloon of Trump wearing a diaper floated overhead.
“Everyone here is on the right side of history,” said Amina, speaking next to a large sign that said “Trump Must Go Now”. “Don’t let anyone tell you protesting doesn’t work.”
Demonstrators carried signs declaring “I just look Illegal”, “Hands off our Abuelas” and “Mexicans Make America Great”.
The LA protests over the past week have been at the centre of a heated dispute between Trump and Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, who opposed the president’s decision to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to secure the protests alongside city police.
Hundreds of arrests have been made this week following instances of vandalism, with police using tear gas and firing rubber bullets and other non-lethal projectiles at protests.
No Kings organisers estimated the LA crowd on Saturday at 200,000.
After hours without incident, the LA police issued a dispersal order around 4pm as some demonstrators began to throw bottles and other objects.
Mounted police were dispatched, and officers began using tear gas along with “flashbangs” to break up the crowd. An 8pm curfew will be in effect until 6am Sunday morning. More protests are expected around LA on Sunday.
Police in Minnesota called on people in the state not to attend the rallies following the assassination of state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband early on Saturday. The shootings happened just hours after the attempted assassination of State Senator John Hoffman.
No Kings said the protests planned for state capital Saint Paul would go ahead.
“We think it’s important to gather peacefully. In the face of this horror, we will mourn and mark our determination for a peaceful, just, democratic future,” the group said.
The organisers later said that they were cancelling all events in Minnesota that were not already under way.
Minnesota attorney-general Keith Ellison said at the rally in Minneapolis that Trump’s behaviour was that of a dictator.
“He’s trying to abolish the Department of Education, he’s trying to get rid of USAID that helps people in Minnesota and abroad, he’s trying to get rid of science grants that help fuel our economy and add new cures, he’s trying to persecute the trans community,” Ellison said.
The US president was trying to rule the country through acts of proclamation, he added.
