Several thousand people descended on the streets of San Francisco Saturday as part of the nationwide “No Kings” protest against Donald Trump, which coincided with the president’s $45 million military parade in Washington, D.C.
What started as a gathering of a few thousand demonstrators at Dolores Park Saturday morning quickly swelled to a crowd of more than 50,000.
Several participants carried upside-down American flags, and chanted “Immigrants stay; Trump must go.” Others hoisted signs that read, “More queens, less kings,” “fight fascism,” “full rights for immigrants,” and “Trump’s MAGA kills cops.” Helicopters flew overhead.
“Holy shit,” someone yelled as they looked southward onto Dolores Avenue to see how large the crowd was. Up the hill of the tree-lined median were bodies as far as the eye could see. The mass of people made it so each marcher stood idle more than they moved in any one direction. It was a traffic jam of resistance.
Mixed in with a sea of American flags were a number of signs calling Trump “the king of Epstein’s Island” and a “dick-tator.”
Amy Miller, 66, held a sign with a a cartoon of Trump’s face and the words, “no faux-king way.” Miller, who works for San Francisco public schools, said she believes that the president’s use of military force and deportations in his second term has threatened due process in this country.
“They are just picking people off the street and taking them,” she said.
![A person holds a sign reading "WE DRINK NEAT BECAUSE... [EXPLETIVE] ICE" at a crowded outdoor protest, with a sketch of a drink and people around them.](https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/9334306797_noking_eg_17.jpg?w=3840&q=75)
Sixty-three-year-old retiree Brad Chilcoat said he joined the march to exercise his First Amendment right to assemble peacefully and air his grievances.
“Everyone needs to know [Trump] is not following the law,” he said.
Walter Van Riel, 67, semi-retiree, dressed up as Uncle Sam for the event to symbolize Trump’s constitutional violations.
“I am in pain,” he said. “My heart is aching. I’m hoping by being out here, I can inspire people to rise. Uncle Sam needs some help. He’s ill.”
“We can’t lose democracy,” he added. “It’s too precious.”
Just before noon, an organizer relayed some ground rules to the crowd: Keep focused, don’t talk to cops, keep the march moving, and “save your anger for Trump and fascists.”
“No Kings” leaders call the protests, planned for more than 2,000 locations throughout the country on Saturday, a “day of defiance … to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like.”
In all, organizers say more than 5 million people took part in the protests nationwide.
Turnout for the demonstrations rode on momentum of the unrest over federal immigration raids and Trump sending the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles without Gov. Gavin Newsom’s consent, ratcheting up tensions with protesters. The first 200 Marines arrived at the Los Angeles Federal Building on Friday, marking their first domestic deployment in more than three decades.
In San Francisco, the “No Kings” protest comes on the heels of rallies against stepped-up raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A protest in downtown last Sunday resulted in upward of 150 arrests — more than triple the arrests Los Angeles saw on that same day.
