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No Kings protests draw huge crowds as anti-Trump rallies sweep across US
Huge crowds have gathered to protest against President Donald Trump’s policies in cities across the US – among them New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.
The rally in New York City’s iconic Times Square drew thousands of people not long after it began on Saturday morning.
The streets and subway entrances were densely packed with people holding up signs with slogans like, “Democracy not Monarchy” and “The Constitution is not optional”.
Ahead of the demonstrations, Trump allies accused the protesters of being linked with the far-left Antifa movement, and condemned what they called “the hate America rally”.
Organisers and protesters out on Saturday said the events were peaceful.
Non-violence is a core principle of No Kings events, the group states on its website, which urges all participants to de-escalate potential altercations.
In New York, sections of the crowd regularly erupted into chants of “this is what democracy looks like” as a near-constant drumbeat boomed in the background alongside cowbells and noisemakers.
Helicopters and drones could be seen flying overhead, and police stood on the sidelines.
One organiser with a loudspeaker announced that 100,000 had shown up, though it’s not clear if he meant in the Times Square vicinity or across the city’s five boroughs where smaller rallies and events were also being held.
A police officer standing by estimated that over 20,000 were marching down 7th Avenue.
Beth Zasloff, a freelance writer and editor, said she had joined the New York protest because she feels outraged and distressed at what she called a “move toward fascism and an authoritarian government” happening in the Trump administration.
“I care a lot about New York City,” Ms Zasloff said. “It gives me hope to be out here with many, many other people.”
Since returning to the White House, Trump has embraced an expansive view of presidential power, using executive orders to block funding approved by Congress and dismantle parts of the federal government, to introduce sweeping tariffs on other countries, and to deploy national guard troops to cities despite objections by state governors.
The president says his actions are necessary to rebuild a country in crisis and he has dismissed claims he’s a dictator or fascist as hysterical. But critics warn some of the moves by the administration are unconstitutional and a threat to American democracy.
Massimo Mascoli, a 68-year-old retired electronic engineer and resident of New Jersey who grew up in Italy, said he was protesting because he can’t watch the US descend into fascism as his home country did in the last century.
“I am the nephew of an Italian hero that deserted the Mussolini army and joined the resistance,” Mascoli said. “He was tortured and killed by the fascists, and after 80 years, I didn’t expect to find fascism again in the United States.”
Mascoli is particularly concerned about the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, implementation of widespread tariffs, deployment of National Guard troops into US cities, and cuts to healthcare for millions of Americans.
“We cannot count on the Supreme Court, we cannot count on the government,” Mr Mascoli said. “We cannot count on the Congress. We have all the legislative, the executive and judiciary that are all against the American people right now. So we are fighting.”
Protests are expected to continue across the country throughout the day. In Washington DC, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders delivered a keynote speech.
“We’re not here because we hate America, we’re here because we love America,” he said to a crowd of thousands.
At the DC march, the BBC saw one man wearing a hat emblazoned with Trump’s “Make American Great Again” slogan, who said he was in town to visit and decided to check out the protest. He declined to give his name, but said while he didn’t really “get it”, people had been civil. Shortly after, a woman shouted a derogatory comment at him.
Throughout Europe, protesters took to the streets in Berlin, Madrid and Rome earlier on Saturday to show solidarity with their American counterparts. A couple of hundred protesters also gathered outside the US embassy in London.
In Toronto, demonstrators near the US consulate general waved signs including “Hands off Canada”.
US protest organisers said the gatherings would challenge Trump’s “authoritarianism”.
In an interview with Fox News, set to air on Sunday but teased on Saturday, Trump appeared to address the upcoming rallies.
“A king! This is not an act,” Trump said in a preview clip of the interview. “You know – they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king.”
“We’ll have to get the National Guard out,” Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.
“Hopefully it’ll be peaceful. I doubt it.”
Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby, but it is unclear how visible the military presence there will be.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday activated the state’s National Guard ahead of a protest scheduled in Austin, the state’s capital.
He said the troops would be needed due to the “planned antifa-linked demonstration”.
Democrats denounced the move, including the state’s top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: “Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do – and Greg Abbott just proved he’s one of them.”
Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated, though local reports said troops were not present during the protest.
One protester at the rally in the capital held up a sign that read “I am antifa”.
Chuck Epes, 76, said it was a “loaded” term, and just meant he supported “peace, daycare, liveable wage, healthcare”, as well as immigrants and people of colour.
“He’s gaslighting everybody – or trying to, and it ain’t working,” he said.
It is common for presidents to become more unpopular as their term wears on. Joe Biden had a 55% approval rating, according to Reuters/Ipsos, in January 2021. By October of that year, his approval had declined to 46%.
The United States military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces conducted “self-defence” strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island and “defeated multiple” Iranian missiles and drones as civilian vessels and regional allies Kuwait and Bahrain came under attack.
Kuwait’s military said air defence systems intercepted incoming drones and missiles, while Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said warning sirens were activated. Earlier, Iranian media reported that explosions were heard in the vicinity of Qeshm Island.
[Aljazeera]
In January 2024, the publication Axios reported that the United States president at the time, Joe Biden, was “running out of patience” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza had been raging for months by that point, and Biden was facing public backlash over US support for the conflict.
The assault would continue for the rest of Biden’s term and bleed into the first 10 months of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Since then, media outlets have continued to publish anonymous accounts of rifts and “frustrating” calls between Trump and the Israeli prime minister. But US support for its Middle East ally has never wavered.
Another anonymously sourced report about a furious, expletive-laden call between US and Israeli leaders came out this week, and it spread rapidly across international media.
Axios reported on Monday that Trump called Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” and berated him over Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.
Around the same time, an Israeli attack killed six people, including two children, in the southern Lebanese town of al-Marwaniyah.
Experts say that despite leaks of feuds and harsh words between US leaders and Netanyahu, policies are ultimately what matters, and they have changed very little.
Ryan Costello, the policy director at the National Iranian American Council Action (NIAC), said political observers have grown to “mock” reports of closed-door anger from US presidents against Netanyahu.
“What’s really important is what actually happens in practice,” Costello told Al Jazeera.
Though there are reports of Trump giving Netanyahu a dressing-down, Isabelle Hayslip, an advocacy manager at the US-based rights group DAWN, said that US policy remains aligned with Israeli interests.
“Single-source reporting of Trump as a strongman who picks up the phone and yells at Netanyahu for undermining US policy is contradicted by the actual policy outcomes where Netanyahu gets exactly what he wants,” Hayslip told Al Jazeera.
“Trump has no final say over Israeli actions. Like his predecessors, the president has proved completely unable to prioritise American interests, instead catering to Israel’s expansionist whims.”
The latest report comes as Trump faces increasing pressure from his Democratic rivals and segments of his base over his handling of the war on Iran, which he launched jointly with Netanyahu on February 28.
The conflict, which saw Iran close the Strait of Hormuz, has sent gasoline prices soaring in the US and fuelled inflation.
Critics have accused Trump of allowing Israel to drag the US into a war that does not advance Washington’s priorities.
With negotiations to end the war stagnating, Israel’s escalation in Lebanon and its threat to bomb Beirut risks derailing the fragile truce that came into effect in April.
Iranian officials have suggested that they cut off contact with the US over the Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
Before the Axios report, Trump announced he had spoken to Netanyahu and an unidentified Hezbollah representative, and both sides agreed that “all shooting will stop”.
But Netanyahu was quick to assert that the Israeli military “will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon”, where it is deepening its invasion and turning entire towns into rubble.
Advocates say Israeli atrocities in Lebanon and across the region could not have happened without US backing.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, the US has provided Israel with nearly $25bn in military aid, helped fend off retaliatory Iranian attacks against the country and vetoed several ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council.
Nonetheless, anonymous accounts that the US president is angry at Netanyahu have become a regular feature in the media.
Such reports are attributed to US officials, but it is unclear how leaks with a similar message on the same topic have continued across two administrations from different political parties.
Publicly, aides of both Biden and Trump have largely refrained from criticising Israel.
Trump has regularly praised the Israeli prime minister, arguing on more than one occasion that Israel would have ceased to exist without Netanyahu’s leadership.
In December, the US president also called the Israeli prime minister a “hero” during a meeting in Florida.
“We’re with you, and we’ll continue to be with you,” Trump told Netanyahu.
Two weeks earlier, Axios reported that the White House had “scolded” Netanyahu over Israel’s ceasefire violations in Gaza.
“The White House message to Netanyahu was: ‘If you want to ruin your reputation and show that you don’t abide by agreements, be our guest, but we won’t allow you to ruin President Trump’s reputation after he brokered the deal in Gaza,” the publication quoted a US official as saying.
Few people know the exact content of high-level calls at the White House. Sometimes, top officials, including members of the National Security Council, sit in on conversations between the president and world leaders after briefings.
Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a research nonprofit, said the leak about the tense call between Trump and Netanyahu may be aimed at making Trump look tough on Israel to quell outrage over the war.
“It could be sort of a way of moderating the anger or the blame at the US for continuing this unpopular, illegal, unnecessary war,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera.
She added that the message it sends is, “Look, we’re very angry at Israel. We yell at them. We call them names.”
But Mortazavi stressed that policy is more important than rhetoric: “Does that change the facts on the ground?”
For his part, Costello argued that the leak was likely directed at Iran.
“I see this one primarily as a signal to the Iranians that Trump is serious, and he wants to insulate what’s happening in Lebanon and Israel’s attacks from the Iran negotiations,” Costello said.
“It remains to be seen the extent to which that excoriation has actually led to a change in Israel’s policies, and I think there is a strong incentive for continued defiance from Netanyahu.”
Axios, meanwhile, has defended its coverage.
“We stand by our reporting, which by the way noted ‘Trump and Netanyahu have had several tense calls in the past but have still coordinated closely on Iran and other issues,’” Jake Wilkins, a spokesperson for the publication, told Al Jazeera in an email.
Mortazavi warned that all sides of the war on Iran are trying to influence public perceptions of the conflict.
She pointed to recent reports that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had resigned, a rumour that was promptly denied by his office.
“This is a very hybrid war. It’s a war on the battlefield. It’s an intelligence war. It’s a war of narratives,” Mortazavi told Al Jazeera. “And then there’s also an information war, which includes disinformation, half-truths and strategic leaks.”
[Aljazeera]
Where once ODI bilaterals could have been fairly mocked for their lack of relevance, they are played less and less, and this series has a bit of heat to it. Qualification for the 2027 ODI World Cup is on the line, and both these sides know what it’s like to be left out of a major international tournament (both were missing from the last Champions Trophy, and West Indies had also not played the 2023 World Cup).
On March 31, 2027, the eight highest-ranking teams – aside from hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe – will qualify automatically for the World Cup, and teams slightly lower will have to fight their way in through a qualifier. Currently Sri Lanka are ranked sixth in ODIs, while West Indies are ninth. Both teams could do with a rankings boost.
Sri Lanka are in slightly better shape coming into this series. They have, at the very least, played ODIs this year, losing 2-1 at home to England. West Indies have lost four of their last five ODIs, and have not played the format for six months. Both teams have more or less their regular ODI troops to pick from, however. Sri Lanka’s seam stocks are in especially good health at present.
Sri Lanka’s ODI captaincy has been one of cricket’s most-puzzling roulette wheels over the past ten years. Kusal Mendis had had the job until 2024, when he was ousted with no reason provided. He has again been put in charge, perhaps with a view to him leading Sri Lanka into that 2027 World Cup campaign. There’s been little to recommend him for the role than his own buoyant batting form, however. How will he fare this time in what has turned out to be one of cricket’s most tumultuous positions?
With an average of 50.52 and 19 hundreds in this format, West Indies captain Shai Hope is the only batter in the series who can be called a reliable run machine. Hope hasn’t played competitive cricket since the T20 World Cup, but does have a decent record against Sri Lanka, against whom he has hit two ODI hundreds and four fifties. Like his opposite wicketkeeper-batter-captain Mendis, Hope will be a key figure as West Indies begin their push towards the 2027 World Cup in earnest.
West Indies will need to find a spot for Shimron Hetmyer, who is back in the ODI format. Ackeem Auguste may make way at the top of the order to allow Hetmyer back in. Gudakesh Motie will also likely lead the spin attack.
West Indies (possible): John Campbell, Shai Hope (capt.)(wk) , Keacy Carty, Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Matthew Forde, Shamar Springer, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales
Sri Lanka have serious decisions to make on the bowling front. In Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, and Eshan Malinga, they have three bowlers capable of breaching 140kph.
Sri Lanka (possible): Kamil Mishara, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (capt, wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Eshan Malinga, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka
[Cricinfo]
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