Millions protest US immigration policies, war with Iran in 3rd wave of 'No Kings' nationwide rallies

Millions of Americans took to the streets Saturday in the third wave of "No Kings" rallies across the United States, protesting policies of the US administration, ranging from military action in Iran to controversial immigration enforcement.

Over 3,100 demonstrations were planned nationwide and staged in major US cities such as Washington DC, New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. US media reports projected the protests involved some 900,000 people, making it the largest single-day protest event on record.

"No Kings" organizers said that the previous two rounds of peaceful rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October 2025.

On Saturday, the flagship rally was held at the Minnesota state Capitol in Saint Paul, where nearly 100,000 people participated despite chilly weather, organizers said. The State Patrol confirmed at least 50,000 participants.

The protests were mainly against the US military action in Iran, the January deaths of two US citizens involving US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis, and what the organizers described as the excessive power of the Donald Trump administration, according to organizers.

Organizing groups included Indivisible, MoveOn, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

The Indivisible non-profit's co-executive director, Leah Greenberg, said Friday on the broadcast program Democracy Now! that Minnesota represented "the occupation of an American city, the unleashing of a reign of terror and racial profiling, that was pushed back by organized, nonviolent, disciplined people power."

US independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a politician from Vermont state and headline speaker at the Saint Paul flagship event, sharply criticized US policies, noting Americans were lied to about the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, "and we are being lied to today about the war in Iran. This war must end immediately."

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also addressed the crowd. Referring to the January ICE shootings and resulting fatalities, he said: "We demand justice for Renee Good and Alex Pretti. We will never forget what they did here."

Rock musician Bruce Springsteen performed his protest song "Streets of Minneapolis" at the rally, and hailed Minnesotans' resistance to the administration's immigration policies, noting, "Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their names will not be forgotten. Thanks, Minnesota, No Kings! No War!"

Protesters held up a massive sign on the Capitol steps reading, "We had whistles, they had guns. The revolution starts in Minneapolis."

In New York City, protests took place across all five boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. In Manhattan, tens of thousands of protesters marched along Seventh Avenue on Saturday afternoon, stretching more than 10 blocks, chanting slogans and carrying signs reading "No ICE," "NO Kings," and "No Wars."

Actor Robert De Niro, one of the organizers, said that no US president before Trump had posed "such an existential threat to our freedoms and security."

"The United States is starting a war that is unjust and unnecessary," said Carolyn Rill, a demonstrator, referring to the ongoing US war on Iran. "They are also taking away money from important services of the US federal government, hurting people's rights."

Janet, a New York resident in her fifties, said: "I don't like what's happening with immigration and border control. I don't like how they're treating immigrants in this country. Nobody deserves to be treated like that."

"And we don't want to be at war in the Middle East at all," she added.

In Washington, DC, crowds gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial and marched into the National Mall, holding signs reading "Regime change begins at home," "Defend Our Constitution." Demonstrators rang bells, played drums and chanted "No kings."

On Saturday, protests took place across multiple cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, drawing thousands of demonstrators who denounced Washington's immigration policies and military actions abroad.

Earlier in the day, thousands gathered at Ocean Beach in San Francisco to form a massive human banner protesting the US administration.

In Sacramento, California, demonstrators gathered at the state Capitol around noon against a backdrop of surging fuel costs statewide since the United States launched military operations against Iran on February 28. Gas prices in Los Angeles County now average close to $6 per gallon according to the American Automobile Association, an increase of more than $1.26 in a single month.

A march in neighboring West Sacramento retraced a historic farmworker route, with organizers framing the protests as opposition to both federal immigration enforcement and the economic impact of the US war with Iran on working families.

In Arizona, a state that voted Republican in the 2024 presidential election, organizers confirmed more than 70 protests were scheduled statewide. Ahead of the demonstrations, Mesa Valley Indivisible organizer Meagan O'Connor told the Phoenix New Times: "While Arizonans are struggling to pay rent and put food on the table, this administration is pouring billions into ICE raids and billionaire tax cuts. That is not a government that works for us."