Tens of thousands of No Kings protesters march through Manhattan decrying Trump

Julian Roberts-Grmela, Nicholas Williams and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Mar 28, 2026

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NEW YORK — Tens of thousands of protesters railing against ICE, the war in Iran and President Donald Trump’s “ongoing consolidation of executive power” took to Manhattan’s streets Saturday with one unified cry: “No Kings.”

Toting banners reading “We Will Not Be Silenced,” “Dump Trump” and “No War, No Kings,” and carrying signs demanding “ICE out of NYC,” protesters streamed through Midtown, shouting for sweeping changes in Washington, D.C., and the White House.

As they marched through Times Square, they chanted, “Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!”, “Who’s got the power? We’ve got the power!” and “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA!”

Earlier on Saturday, thousands of protesters could be seen marching through the streets of D.C., Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Protesters on Saturday called for an end to the weaponization of ICE and federal agencies, as well as devastating cuts to essential services like Medicaid and public education.

The demonstrators were joined by New York Attorney General Letitia James, noted activists, such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, and movie star Robert De Niro. The three teamed up to carry a light-green banner reading “We Protect Our Democracy.”

“When the crowds are chanting ‘No Kings,’ what I’m really hearing is, as we all know, ‘No Trump,'” De Niro said at a press conference before the rally began. “There have been other presidents that have tested the constitutional limits of their power, but none of them have been an existential threat to our freedom and security.”

“He must be stopped and must be stopped now,” the Oscar-winning actor continued. “And he cannot do all the f—ed-up things he’s doing without the collusion of Congress and the goons in his administration. It’s diabolical.”

The turnout was huge. Protesters filled both Seventh Avenue and Broadway from 59th Street to 42nd Street, then converged and marched down Seventh to 34th Street, where the demonstration ended.

Beyond Trump himself, chief among the concerns of protesters The News spoke with was the issue of wealth inequality.

Pepper, a 66-year-old woman from the Bronx, watched the waves of protesters stream by as she sat in her walker.

“Because he’s not for us,” she declared of Trump. “He’s not for the people. I did not vote for him, and he’s against me and my people.”

“He’s against all low-income people. He’s just for the rich,” Pepper said. “It’s not our fault that we was born poor. We wasn’t even born poor. We were born as kings and queens, and they took us from our country and brought us over here and made us slaves, and when they got tired of us, then they threw us out. So we had no other choice but to be poor, and we’re tired of it.”

In a similar vein, Brenda, 69, a protester from Long Island, said, “No one seems to care about us. It’s the billionaires. It’s the very rich, and that’s what it’s about.”

“So we’re hoping,” she said, while holding a “No Thrones, No Crowns, No Kings” sign as she marched, “you know, just to make a point with all of these people today, it’s great to see. And as a senior, what’s really great to see (is) a lot of seniors out here, I am shocked.”

“I’ve been doing this since 1969,” said Paul Nagle, 67, a protester from Brooklyn. “I was 11 years old, out marching against the Vietnam War.

“All of this is facilitated only if there’s an incredible divide between rich and poor,” he stressed. “We must, like, never stop having our eye on that, as well. It’s got to be part of the fight. We have to tax the rich and the corporations.”

The police presence at the protest was large, too, including members of the Strategic Response Group and cops from the counterterrorism and community affairs units.

“There will be an adequate security deployment,” an NYPD spokesman told the Daily News in a statement Friday ahead of the march.

Amid heighten tensions due to the Iran war, a few weeks ago an ISIS-inspired protester unleashed homemade bombs outside of Gracie Mansion.

No arrests were made at Saturday’s protest, cops said.

This marked the fourth No Kings protest held in New York City. Tens of thousands marched against the Trump administration and its right-wing, anti-immigrant policies during last year’s protests, which are meant to defend democracy and reject authoritarian governance.

The most recent No Kings protest, held in January, only drew what the NYPD estimated as around 2,000 people. But an estimated 100,000 people swelled a No Kings march on a warm day last October, while roughly 50,000 people endured rain to march in the city’s inaugural No Kings protest last June.

While 100 people were arrested at the city’s first No Kings protest late last spring, the NYPD said no arrests were made in October.

“We had more than 100,000 people across all five boroughs peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights and the NYPD made zero protest-related arrests,” the department posted on X after last fall’s march.