Protesting Metro Detroiters said Saturday they are hoping to send a message to President Donald Trump by joining the 120 or so No Kings rallies in Michigan and hundreds more across the country.
People were packed into Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit for a rally Saturday afternoon. Deborah’Nica Polk, 28, said she was participating because she no longer felt safe in the country she lived in.
Polk said she had family and friends who were on food stamps or other government assistance, and she worried about the future of those programs after they were cut off during the nearly six-week federal government shutdown in October.
“I know people who have lost jobs because of the administration,” Polk said. “I’ve almost lost my job because of the administration. … This is for our future.”
Pat Taylor Braxton, a longtime Detroit teacher, said she attended the 1963 march where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 100,000 people down Woodward Avenue in Detroit.
Braxton said she attended the No Kings rally in Clark Park in southwest Detroit on Saturday afternoon because she wanted to stand against what she called the fascist and authoritarian Trump administration.
“We will not be complicit, we won’t be Nazi Germany, we won’t stand by while children are being sexually exploited,” Braxton said. “The majority of people do not stand for this BS.”
Detroit’s Clark Park rally features Rep. Rashida Tlaib
The rally at Clark Park featured several speakers, including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Detroit Democrat who represents western Wayne County and part of Oakland County.
Tlaib railed against the detainment of undocumented immigrants and the separation of mothers from their children, and the ongoing war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran last month.
“Why is it that we always find money for death and destruction, but we never find money for clean water, for health care, for childcare, to protect our communities?” Tlaib said. “…They will tear a child away from their mother who can’t have clean drinking water coming through the house. They will put that child in foster care, put them in the system, then actually make sure that every family in our country has access to water.”
Samuel Eckhard, 74, who said he served as a Detroit firefighter for 25 years, said he attended the rally because there is strength in numbers.
“As Maya Angelou said, ‘We’re more alike than we’re not,’” Eckhard said. “I’ve been here long enough to say he’s the worst of the worst. … He’s a racist, a pedophile. … We’re going to see this man fall and fall far.”
David Delgado, 55, held a sign that said, “Send ICE to Iran.” He said Trump should listen to the people nationwide protesting him.
“I believe in American democracy that is currently under attack by this administration,” he said. “He has a complete disregard for the Constitution, for the rule of law.”
Hundreds gather for rally in Livonia
The No Kings anti-Trump rallies in Metro Detroit kicked off Saturday morning with a protest by hundreds of people at Schoolcraft College in Livonia that started at 11 a.m.
Kelly Miller, a 36-year-old from Livonia, said they attended the event because they wanted to speak out against the government because it is not acting in the best interest of the people.
“… I really love my country, and I want to do something,” Miller said. “Livonia is a mix of everyone.”
Livonia, with a population of 93,100 residents, is a former Republican stronghold that has been electing Democratic state lawmakers since Donald Trump first captured the White House in 2016.
Melissa Bradley, a 35-year-old from Northville, said she brought her two young children to the rally because she wanted them to see positive activism.
Bradley said that she and her kids had a lot of conversations about how to treat others. As a mom of two young White boys, she felt it was more important to teach them how to respect others.
“(My son) made a sign,” Bradley said. “He was excited to come out here.”
Marie Mack, an 87-year-old from Westland, said that she was at the rally because of Trump and that she stands against nearly everything he does.
“He has bastardized the Constitution,” she said. “He needs to be impeached and so do all the Republicans who refuse to act constitutionally.”
Marilyn Laidlaw, a 78-year-old from Westland, said she was concerned about sending soldiers to Iran. Laidlaw said her brother was a Vietnam veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart and was disabled from exposure to Agent Orange.
“I don’t understand why the president who said he didn’t want war is sending thousands of our young people there,” Laidlaw said.
Trump White House: Rallies reflect ‘Trump Derangement Therapy Session’
U.S. Rep. John James, a Republican candidate for governor, said Saturday the “No Kings” demonstrations were a manifestation of “Trump Derangement Syndrome” at the Michigan Republican Party Convention in Novi.
James said he supported the right to peacefully protest, but disagreed with the suggestion that Trump is acting like a king.
“What happens when you protest a king?” James asked. “What happened in Iran when 30,000 people were murdered because they protested tyranny?”
In an emailed statement, Abigail Jackson, spokeswoman for the White House, asked reporters who were covering the No Kings rallies to include the White House’s official statement: “The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.”
Lansing state Capitol protest draws 2,000 participants
About 2,000 people gathered at the Capitol at one of the larger demonstrations held on Saturday, with some pushing for human rights.
The group, which touts itself as a non-violent political organization that mobilizes protests, opposes Trump’s policies on health care, education, environmental protection, gun violence, deportation in the U.S. and the Iran war among other issues.
Mike Schriner, a former Waverly High School teacher and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said he attended the rally because he believes in “human rights for all” and a livable wage, among other things.
“I think our political system, we are not representing the people. We’re kind of like dividing them into economic and social classes,” Schriner said. “I think that the two-party system just is not working. There are new things happening that I believe in. They are here today talking about new ways of representation. People need a voice.”
Siri Craft from Okemos also attended the Lansing rally, holding a sign that read, “Love your neighbor. No exception!”
“I believe in human rights for all people, and this is my first protest here, but my heart has been here,” Craft said.
Monroe rally draws 300 to Custer’s statue, organizer says
The Custer statue in downtown Monroe was again the backdrop to a No Kings rally, with about 300 people attending by 1:30 p.m., said Katybeth Davis.
This was the first protest for Susan Dirks, who said she came because the county is in worse shape than it has been in some time.
“People were misled and voted for a person that had no respect for anybody or anything except for himself,” Dirks said, referencing Trump.
Dirks said she wanted to see others willing to stand up and speak out.
“We might have a chance, you know?” she said.
Michael Donofrio and his daughter, Jordan, were among the crowd in Monroe.
“I mean, my personal pension plan, the last few days has tanked over $50,000,” Donofrio said, holding a sign that read “Trump Is Bankrupting America.”
Bailey Bray said she was protesting because she was hurt by what she saw as an increase in hate in the country.
“And I really just think the world should be a bit more kinder, and I really want to fight for that,” Bray said.
Third round of No Kings protests
This is the third round of mass “No Kings” protests around the country, focusing on the president’s aggressive deportation campaign and the deaths of two American citizens by agents in Minneapolis.
About 120 public rallies and private events were scheduled on March 28 in Michigan, according to the No Kings website, which provides a location map for the demonstrations. They stretch from Ironwood in the western Upper Peninsula, where 11 events are planned, to Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit.
Two rallies are scheduled across the border in Canada’s Ontario province in the cities of London and Toronto.
They follow an Oct. 18, 2025, No Kings rally in Port Huron that attracted Canadian retiree Kevin Larson of Kincardine, Ontario, who was denied entry to the U.S. at the Blue Water Bridge, but not before the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol required him to provide a DNA sample under the threat of jail time. Larson had no criminal record.
Rallies plan to highlight criticisms of Iran war, ICE tactics, rising costs
The demonstrations are highlighting what political foes call the monarchical rule of Trump, who issued a bunch of executive orders last year and has had a free hand to set policy without intervention by the Republican-controlled Congress. Democrats have argued that these policies have hurt Americans and go against democracy.
But this latest series of rallies comes almost a month into a war that the United States and Israel launched Feb. 28 against Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader in a bid to neutralize Iran’s nuclear weapons program and what Trump contends was an imminent threat to the United States.
“Masked secret police terrorizing our communities. An illegal, catastrophic war putting us in danger and driving up our costs. Attacks on our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote. Costs pushing families to the brink. Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant,” according to the No Kings website. “But this is America, and power belongs to the people ― not to wannabe kings or their billionaire cronies.”
October protest included Republican-Democratic controversy in Oakland Co.
In October, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Jim Runestad called the protests “a canard” that gives credence to the idea that Trump will take away the rights of citizens. Presidents have the right to federalize law enforcement when they see fit, Runested said, citing Dwight Eisenhower’s deployment of troops into Little Rock, Ark., during school integration.
The Oakland County Republican Party stirred a controversy in October by claiming that the “affiliates” of the No Kings rallies “have a well-documented history of fueling division and unrest in our communities.” The party’s news release listed the Communist Party USA, the Freedom Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialists of America as affiliates, though none of the organizations were listed as partners on the No Kings website.
The Oakland County Democratic Party struck back in a statement by arguing the local Republican Party’s statement fanned “the flames of division and fear by mischaracterizing peaceful civic mobilizations as threats and by implying that those who exercise their constitutional rights should be treated as suspects. At a moment when our democracy demands leadership rooted in truth and responsibility, this kind of rhetoric is not only reckless, it is dangerous.”
The Oct. 18 rallies were promoted as responding to Trump administration actions, including sending immigration agents into cities, pushing for the redrawing of congressional maps to favor Republicans and “gutting health care.” The first series of cross-country rallies were organized in opposition to the military parade held on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June 2025.
Where to watch No Kings protests around the U.S.
For those interested in the national sweep of the protests, the public affairs cable channel C-SPAN said it plans to telecast appearances at No Kings rallies by singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda and Maggie Rogers, who is a 31-year-old singer-songwriter who gained fame for her hit song “Alaska.”
satwood@detroitnews.com
Detroit News Staff Writer Craig Mauger contributed, along with Sarah Moore, Matthew Dae Smith and Robert Killips of the Lansing State Journal as well as Connor Veenstra of the Monroe Evening News.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit No Kings protesters see fascism. White House sees ‘derangement’
Reporting by Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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