Thousands of people rallied at dozens of demonstrations around Southern California Saturday as part of a massive, nationwide “No Kings Day of Defiance” protest against President Trump and his policies, with tense clashes between protesters and police breaking out in downtown LA in the late afternoon.
Around 4 p.m., the downtown LA rally – with an estimated 200,000 protesters – switched from peaceful to chaotic, as some people reportedly threw rocks, bottles and fireworks at police. Officers issued a dispersal order and unleashed a multitude of flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at the crowd.
Confusion broke out as police on horseback pushed people away from various areas and traffic had to be diverted. Protesters ran past businesses that had been boarded up ahead of the demonstration. Reporting from a KTLA helicopter showed people were trying to rush away from the rubber bullets and horses but did not know exactly where to go.
Up until that point, for several hours on Saturday, the downtown LA rally had been peaceful. Law enforcement officials reiterated that when protests turn violent, it’s typically launched by “professional agitators,” rather than the vast majority of protesters who come out to exercise their free speech rights.
“Unfortunately when our officers were attacked, we had to change course and begin crowd-control tactics to prevent harm to our officers and the community,” LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides said in an interview with KTLA. “Our officers were caught off guard. The individuals that were throwing rocks and bottles and objects at our officers were on a bridge and they had a high ground.”
Police officers repeated their dispersal order over loudspeakers into the evening as the crowd moved away from one location only to regroup in another. At one point, police in riot gear rolled in to protect LAPD headquarters.
“Officers requesting assistance due to agitators in the crowd throwing objects,” the LAPD posted on X at 6:30 p.m., indicating the new trouble was at First Street and Broadway, a few blocks from headquarters.
The 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for a one-square-mile section of downtown Los Angeles after a week of protests against federal immigration raids would remain in place Saturday night, officials announced, but it was likely that some in the crowd would ignore it, according to reports from the scene.
The number of arrests out of the disturbance, if any, will likely not be available until Sunday morning, LAPD spokeswoman Officer Rosario Cervantes said.
More than 1,500 “No Kings” events were held nationwide on Saturday, and demonstrations took place throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. National organizers estimated the downtown Los Angeles event drew 200,000 people.
The protests coincided with a military parade the Trump administration organized on Flag Day in Washington, D.C., to mark the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday. It’s also Trump’s birthday, and his critics hoped to send a clear message: “In America, we don’t do kings,” according to Indivisible, the progressive organization behind “No Kings Day.”
By around 9:40 a.m., thousands of people had already amassed at Long Beach’s Bixby Park, with the crowd lining both sides of Ocean Boulevard for several blocks in either direction. Protesters were jubilant and defiant, holding signs saying “Stop racism,” “No kings” and “No one is illegal on stolen lands.” Many of the signs attacked the Trump administration for the federal immigration raids conducted around Southern California and elsewhere this past week.
Sarah Bettendorf came to the sprawling Long Beach rally in Lady Liberty attire.
“Lady Liberty stands for kindness, compassion and hope,” she said. “We’re here to say no to the haters. We’re here to stand up for Constitutional Rights and protect all immigrants, because it is important to remember that there are no kings and that we all have rights.”
Bettendorf, who works in aerospace, added that she wasn’t surprised by the massive turnout on Ocean Boulevard. “I think having this many people in our country who are upset with the current regime and how the administration is attacking LA … I think this is absolutely apropos.”
Law enforcement agencies across the region are on heightened alert for the planned protests, including a large rally expected outside Los Angeles City Hall.
By 9:50 a.m., just before the protest’s scheduled start time, the crowd in downtown LA had grown significantly—thousands filled Grand Park and spilled out onto both sides of North Spring Street.
Organizers had pulled an open-bed truck in front of City Hall, serving as a makeshift stage. From the back of the truck, a woman shouted rallying cries like “ICE out of LA!” and “Stop the rage,” which were met with enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.
Protesters held a variety of handmade signs. One read, “Immigrants: America’s favorite scapegoat”; another, “LA heat melts ICE.” Many carried American flags turned upside down — a traditional signal of distress and defiance.
See also: Photos: Signs show the mood of ‘No Kings’ protesters in Southern California
Among the demonstrators was Alicia Bleier, a retired business owner from Silver Lake, who said she joined out of “outrage at how the federal government is overstepping their bounds and politicizing what shouldn’t be politicized.”
“This is not who we are,” said Bleier, who held a sign reading, “Immigrants are the backbone of American exceptionalism.” She added, “Everyone here—unless they’re American Indian—is an immigrant. Immigrants built this country.”
Standing beside her was her friend Lucy Salcedo, a longtime LA Unified teacher. She said she’s been devastated since one of her first-grade students and his mother were deported more than a week ago.
“It’s just hit home,” said Salcedo, 56, of North Hollywood. “And it’s just terrible that so many people are facing the same kind of circumstance.”
The Trump administration has abruptly shifted the focus of its mass deportation campaign, telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to largely pause raids and arrests in the agricultural industry and at hotels and restaurants.
“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” President Donald Trump said in a Thursday social media post.
“In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
Those changes include stepping back from raids in the agricultural and hospitality industries, according to The New York Times, which cited an internal email and three U.S. officials with knowledge of the guidance from the White House.
Jill Prunella, 45, a bookkeeper from Costa Mesa, said she was at the downtown Los Angeles protest to show support “especially with everything that’s been going on in L.A.,” even though similar rallies were happening closer to home in Orange County.
“I wanted to make sure that when Trump says (protesters) are paid, or that (people) don’t really care, I want him to see that people do care,” she said. “I wanted to be part of the numbers, showing him that, yes, we all care, and we’re all Americans—no matter where you’re from.”
Prunella said she has several relatives who immigrated to the U.S. from different countries. “To deny that right to anybody is sick, it’s not what we’re about,” she said. “We’re here to be a land of opportunity, and in some cases, salvation for some people.”
Sarah Galley marched with her husband, holding a sign that said “I pledge allegiance to no kings.”
Strapped to her chest was their 8-month-old baby, Frances Emery, who was all smiles as she looked at the various signs surrounding them.
“We came out here as a family because we have to do better,” Galley said. “We can’t let her grow up in our current state. She has to see that people are fighting for others’ rights.”
A planned protest in Huntington Beach drew a heavy presence of Trump supporters Saturday morning, an hour before the scheduled noon start time.
By 11 a.m., dozens of vehicles flying Trump 2024 flags had lined the streets near the pier, with supporters waving flags, honking horns and walking down Main and PCH. The counter-presence appeared to outnumber early arrivals for the protest.
Trump supporters shouted “USA! USA! USA!” The smaller group of protesters shot back with “No kings!”
By 1 p.m., the line of “No Kings” protesters – thousands of them, by some estimates – stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions from the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway.
Eric Kessler, 71, held a sign that read, “A military parade for a draft dodger is crazy.”
“I think what is going around in this country is sickening,” said Kessler, a Seal Beach resident. “He’s a liar, he’s a felon, he is disrespected throughout the world.”
Kessler also denounced military involvement around immigration enforcement operations.“The military is not supposed to be here,” he said. “They are supposed to be for the people.”
A bystander on a bike shouted, “You guys are sheep! We’re only deporting illegals. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Tina Jackson, a Huntington Beach resident and self-identified disabled Marine Corps veteran who served for 12 years, voiced her frustration, saying she didn’t serve for the U.S. to turn into “a fascist country.
“This country has been led by an adjudicated rapist, draft dodging dementia patient,” Jackson said.
She also condemned the ongoing immigration raids across the country, emphasizing the role immigrants have played in building the nation.
“These very people are the fabric of the country,” she said, turning to a heckler who was shouting “deport them all” and snapping, “You’re on stolen land, you moron!”
Protesters held signs that read “Honor our troops, not Trump,” “Save our democracy” and “Americans against oligarchy.” The ocean breeze tugged at banners and flags as chants broke out every few minutes, including “86 47!”
Gilbert Briones of Paramount, a Republican, said he came out to the Huntington Beach rally because there has “got to be law and order” in the country. He wore a white t-shirt with a Trump 2024 logo, and carried a large American flag.
“The other side never obeys the law,” Briones, 62, said. “I’m here to uphold the law.”
Thousands of “No Kings” demonstrators also packed Main Beach Park and much of Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, waving American flags and clever signs and chanting, “Stars and stripes and human rights!” and “This is what democracy looks like!” as drivers honked in solidarity – and occasionally flipped protesters the bird.
“Justice for Cricket,” said a sign affixed to one sad dog, referencing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s execution of her puppy.
And several thousand protestors rallied in Pasadena, where attendees waved American flags, chanted “ICE out of Dena” and held up signs such as “Liberate Kristi Noem from her delusion.”
“Everything is out of control,” said Mikaila Buchanan, a 39-year-old biologist from Arcadia, “from human rights, to immigration, to the attack on science, the disregard for our constitution, our democracy.”
Janice Dangerfield, a 75-year-old retiree, said she protested during the civil rights movement but didn’t expect she’d have to protest again until the ICE raids in Southern California pushed her to action.
“I don’t want a king,” she said. “We have a White House full of fascists and we’ve got to get them out.”
In Redlands on Saturday, the first protesters were lined up along Orange Street and Redlands Boulevard by 9:50 a.m. Within an hour, the crowd swelled to about 1,000, many carrying American flags.
“I’m here because we can’t allow this to happen … one man cannot dictate,” Tim Clark, a 74-year-old Army veteran, said as he carried a sign reading “No bogus bone spurs here. Proud veteran against Trump.”
“We have to stand up for what’s right,” Clark said. “We have the Constitution, we have the rule of law … not what one king, Donald Trump, wants to do.”
One sign at the rally reading, “the only monarch we want to see” pictured butterflies. Another said, “Eggs are so expensive because of the chickens in Congress.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said there is no termination date for the downtown LA curfew she imposed Tuesday in response to looting and vandalism during the protests against immigration enforcement operations.
There were 18 arrests for curfew violation and one arrest for assault with a deadly weapon on Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release Saturday. Since June 7th, LAPD made 523 arrests related to protest activity. Additionally, nine officers were injured during those incidents, the department said.
Before the violence broke out in downtown LA on Saturday, Jaime Monzon stood along the edge of the street as throngs of protesters marched past, urging them to keep the demonstration peaceful.
Monzon, who was born and raised in Long Beach, said his parents came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico. “Thanks to me being born here, they were able to get their green cards,” he said.
He said he felt a responsibility to be “the voice for people that cannot speak. I’m here to represent the people that can’t be here, all the people that are hiding, all the people that are scared, and all the people that died trying to reach the American dream.”
The Army is set to celebrate 250 years with a parade that coincides with Trump’s birthday
Man suspected of throwing rocks, flaming object at CHP officers on 101 freeway arrested
Watch live: Military parade, ‘No Kings’ protests held against Trump across US
ICE shows up in Irvine, and a councilmember encourages undocumented people to stay home
Staff writers Jordan Darling, Michael Hixon, Kristy Hutchings, Victoria Ivie, Hanna Kang, Teresa Liu, Teri Sforza, Michael Slaten, Beau Yarbrough, Correspondent Julianna Lozada and City News Service contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
