(This article was updated to add new information.)
The crowd at St. James Park in Green Bay was diverse, with teenagers and veterans and former professors.
A man made his way to a park shelter, wearing a sign on his back reading “totally disheartened moderate Republican,” while Gloria De Grave spoke to those who gathered.
“We are all united behind what we can do to take this dictator down from office,” said De Grave, an organizer with the progressive nonprofit Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
As elsewhere across Wisconsin and the country, these protesters gathered in Green Bay and De Pere on March 28 against the Trump administration under the banner of “No Kings.”
The moniker, used in previous national demonstrations in June and October, pointed to the protests’ overarching critique of President Donald Trump’s governance as anti-democratic.
It’s a view dismissed by the president’s supporters, who see the president’s wielding of power as a display of strength and have dismissed the No Kings protests as unpatriotic and nonsensical. The Republican Party of Brown County on March 28 reposted comments by Republican U.S. Rep. and gubernatorial-hopeful Tom Tiffany, who said in a social media post that it was “strange” No Kings protesters weren’t demonstrating against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers for future property tax increases.
“The only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement one day before the protests.
In Green Bay, about 1,500 demonstrators had gathered at St. James Park by 11:30 a.m. A later demonstration in De Pere drew about 1,500 protesters at Voyageur Park by 3:30 p.m., some of whom had been at the Green Bay protest earlier.
Many protesters said the war in Iran and the Trump administration’s immigration policies were top-of-mind grievances, though generally referenced a wider gamut of discontent also reflected in their picket signs. They expressed anger at the handling of the Epstein files, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as a whole, the reshaped rules at national parks. Many of their signs framed Trump against facets of American life: “Law is King, Trump is not,” one sign read. “We love America. We hate Trump,” another read.
For some, it was their first time protesting. A father showed up, who said he’d been doubtful before about the purpose of protest. Another couple said they came for the first time. Their sons lived in Minneapolis and they had been shaken by the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents there. One of those killed was Green Bay Preble High School grad Alex Pretti.
Many demonstrators said they’d already been to No Kings protests previously held in criticism of Trump’s military parade for Flag Day and ICE deployments across the country. Some said protesting was unlikely to amount to much, though said they ought to.
Pat and Julie McCain had driven from Cecil to meet up with Monica Johnson of De Pere. Braving blustery winds while marching on the Claude Allouez bridge in De Pere, Pat McCain said he kept turning out to protest because, “It makes you feel like you’re not alone, you’re not going crazy.”
Ellen Brehm and Nancy Gibbs of Green Bay, who’ve also attended prior No Kings protests, rattled off a list of grievances.
“Kristi Noem and her nonsense,” Gibbs said, referring to the ousted Homeland Security secretary. “Now we’re in war, most of it done behind our backs.”
“It’s not democracy,” Brehms said.
Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. He also writes a weekly column answering reader questions about Green Bay. Contact and send him questions at 920-834-4250 or jlin@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Thousands turn out for ‘No Kings’ protest in Green Bay and De Pere
Reporting by Jesse Lin, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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