The Americans demonstrating do not want a president who acts like a king.Image: keystone
No wars, no raids in US cities and a no to rising prices: In the USA, citizens have taken to the streets in numerous cities against the government of US President Donald Trump.
03/29/2026, 06:2003/29/2026, 06:22
That’s what it’s about
According to the organizers, protests were planned in all 50 states on Saturday under the motto “No Kings”. US media spoke in the evening (local time) of an estimated several million participants. Resistance to Trump’s policies also emerged internationally.
Large protests in US cities
In addition to large protests in New York, a dpa reporter observed that tens of thousands of demonstrators, including many older people, marched across the Memorial Bridge towards the city center in the US capital Washington on Saturday morning.
In New York, tens of thousands marched through the city.Image: keystone
According to media reports, the organizers, an alliance of civil society groups, expected around 3,000 rallies across the country with a total of around nine million participants. They spoke of one of the largest protest mobilizations in the country’s history – the figures have not yet been independently verified. Last year, similar actions brought millions of people onto the streets.
Protesters in Washington chanted warnings about “fascists in the White House.” A cardboard cutout that was supposed to represent Trump’s deputy chief of staff and right-wing hardliner Stephen Miller had the name tag “Adolf” for Adolf Hitler hanging around it.
Demonstrators in the US capital Washington, DC had a clear messageImage: keystone
In addition to the US government’s migration policy, the protests are also directed against foreign policy decisions and rising costs of living. Critics accuse Trump of undermining democratic principles such as freedom of expression, civil rights and the right to vote. “Trump wants to rule over us like a tyrant. But this is America, and power lies with the people – not with would-be kings or their billionaire cronies,” the organizations said in advance.
Demonstrators want to show the world a different America
Many came to set an example internationally. A demonstrator who took to the streets against Trump’s plans to temporarily close Washington’s famous Kennedy Center cultural venue told the dpa that people in Germany should see that there is protest against the Trump administration in America.
A protester in Washington allows herself to be taken away by the police.Image: keystone
The central event of the nationwide protests was a large rally in St. Paul in the US state of Minnesota in the north of the USA, where a huge crowd of demonstrators gathered. The background to this is, among other things, controversial operations by federal authorities in the wake of stricter measures against migrants, which had previously led to weeks of protests in the region. During the operations, two US citizens were also killed by shots fired by federal officers.
Tens of thousands of people also came together in St. Paul.Image: keystone
The announced participants in St. Paul included prominent supporters from culture and politics. US rock legend Bruce Springsteen was among those who spoke to the demonstrators. After the deaths of the two US citizens, he created a protest anthem (“Streets of Minneapolis”) that was directed against the controversial deportation raids by federal officials, some of whom were masked. In the song, Springsteen describes them as “King Trump’s private army.”
Bruce Springsteen played his protest song.Image: keystone
There were also demonstrations in numerous other cities – from large metropolises to smaller towns. Protests took place in the US states of Michigan and North Carolina. Likewise, people in San Francisco on the West Coast took to the streets.
According to the organizers in US media reports, some of the registrations also come from conservative rural regions and suburbs, not just from classic Democratic strongholds. According to the US news agency AP, the protests were largely peaceful, but there were a few arrests. In Los Angeles, police briefly used tear gas after a large crowd gathered at a state prison.
In Denver, police broke up a rally after it blocked a street and refused to give up the blockade. Some demonstrators threw smoke grenades back at the police, and nine people were arrested.
Also protests in Europe
Not only in the USA did people protest against Donald Trump’s authoritarian behavior; people also took to the streets in several large cities in Europe. In Rome, thousands protested against Trump and also against their own Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who recently suffered a bitter defeat by rejecting judicial reform.
People also demonstrated in London, holding up banners such as “Stop the extreme right” or “Stand up against racism”. A few hundred people also gathered in Paris, the majority of them Americans living in France, according to the AP news agency.
In Germany, demonstrations took place in Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt am Main and Düsseldorf, among others. On posters, a few hundred demonstrators in Berlin accused Trump of attacks on democracy, criticized the immigration agency ICE or demanded the complete release of the so-called Epstein files, which revolve around the scandal surrounding the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to police reports, up to 600 people gathered in Munich. According to dpa information, around 120 participants came together in Frankfurt.
That’s what the White House says
The White House criticized the protests in the USA. According to media reports, a spokeswoman had previously described the events as a meeting of a small group supported by left-wing networks without broad support among the population. (sda/dpa/con)