Large crowds gathered Saturday to protest the war on Iran and the actions of US President Donald Trump, taking part in “No Kings” demonstrations across the United States and Europe, the AP reported. Minnesota has become the focal point of the movement, with organizers expecting millions to attend. In St. Paul, thousands of people filled the Capitol lawn and nearby streets, some flying upside-down American flags as a symbol of the emergency.
Read also | Pedro Pascal at the ‘No Kings’ protest in LA | WatchProtesters hold anti-war signs during the “No Kings” protest on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)(AP)
Bruce Springsteen
The rally featured a headlining performance by Bruce Springsteen, who performed his song “Streets of Minneapolis”.
He wrote the song in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents and in tribute to the thousands of Minnesotans who took to the streets over the winter to protest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement. Before launching into the song, Springsteen lamented the deaths of Good and Pretti, but said people’s continued pushback against U.S. Customs and Immigration gives the rest of the country hope.
Bruce Springsteen performs during the ‘No Kings’ protest on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)(AP)
“Your strength and your determination told us this is still America,” he said. “And this reactionary nightmare and these invasions of American cities will not stand,” as the AP reports.
Demonstrations took place in a wide range of places, from New York – home to about 8.5 million people in the heavily Democratic state – to Driggs, a small town in eastern Idaho with fewer than 2,000 residents, in a state where Trump won 66 percent of the vote in 2024.
Biggest crowds expected yet
Organizers in the United States estimated that earlier rounds of “No Kings” rallies attracted more than 5 million participants in June and 7 million in October. They told reporters this week that they expected around 9 million people to join Saturday’s demonstrations, although it is still unclear whether that number has been reached.
Read also | How Pakistan wooed Trump and styled itself as a peace broker in the Iran conflict
They also noted that more than 3,100 events were reported in all 50 states — about 500 more than in October.
Wendy Wyatt of Lawrence, Kan., holds her ‘Cats Against Trump’ sign during the ‘No Kings’ protest at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/John Hanna)(AP)
In Topeka, Kansas, a protest outside the Statehouse featured participants dressed as the Frog King and depicting Trump as a child.
Wendy Wyatt was driving a “Cats Against Trump” sign from Lawrence, 20 miles east, and planned to drive back to her hometown for a later rally.
Wyatt said “there are so many things” about the Trump administration that upset her, but “that’s very hopeful for me.”
The protesters have a long list of causes
The Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, particularly in Minnesota, was just one item on a long list of protesters’ grievances, which also included the war in Iran and the rollback of transgender rights.
In Washington, hundreds marched past the Lincoln Memorial to the National Mall, holding signs reading “Put down the crown, clown” and “Regime change begins at home.” Protesters rang bells, played drums and chanted “No kings”.
Protesters gather at the “No Kings” protest organized by Remove the Regime on the National Mall on March 28, 2026 in Washington, DC. This is the third nationwide “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration. Heather Diehl/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Heather Diehl / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP(Getty Images via AFP)
Bill Jarcho was there from Seattle, joined by six people dressed as insects in tactical vests emblazoned with “LICE,” fake ICE as part of what he called a “mockery and awe.”
“What we provide is a mockery of the king,” said Jarcho. “It’s about taking authoritarianism and making fun of it, which they hate.”
About 40,000 people marched in a “No Kings” event in San Diego, police there said.
The main event is at the Minnesota Capitol
Organizers billed the rally there as a national flagship, highlighting the state where federal agents fatally shot two individuals who were watching Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Springsteen’s Land of Hope & Dreams U.S. tour is themed “No Kings” and kicks off Tuesday in Minneapolis.
A protester holds a sign reading ‘no king in the US, only a pedophile in the White House, now indictment’ during the national ‘No Kings’ day of protest, which included opposition to the proposed Esencia coastal development project in San Juan, Puerto Rico March 28, 2026. Nationwide protests against US President Donald Trump are expected on Saturday as millions more author what they see as cruel law-abiding forms of governance. It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a local movement called “No Kings”, the most vocal and visible vehicle for opposition to Trump since his second term in office in January 2025. (Photo: Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP)(AFP)
Before the rocker known as “The Boss” took the stage, organizers played a video by Robert DeNiro. The actor said he wakes up every morning depressed because of Trump, but was happier on Saturday as millions of people protested. He also congratulated Minnesotans for exhausting ICE.
The event on the Minnesota Capitol grounds in June drew an estimated 80,000 people, and Minnesota organizers expected 100,000 on Saturday.
People participate in the “No Kings” protest against Trump at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)(AP)Read also | Senate Approves Most Homeland Security Funding, But Not ICE: What We Know
Demonstrators held up a massive sign on the steps of the Capitol that read: “We had the whistles, they had the guns. The revolution begins in Minneapolis.”
Rallies planned outside the US
Rallies are planned in more than a dozen countries in Europe, Latin America and Australia, according to Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible, a group leading the movement, the AP reported. According to him, in countries with constitutional monarchies, demonstrations are held under the name “No tyrants”.
The Olympia Handmaid Brigade joins the statewide “No Kings” protest at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia on Saturday, March 28, 2026. (Ivy Ceballo/The Seattle Times via AP)(AP)
In Rome, thousands of people marched chanting in opposition to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Her conservative government recently faced a major setback after a referendum aimed at streamlining Italy’s judiciary failed following criticism that it threatened judicial independence. Demonstrators also carried banners condemning Israeli and US attacks on Iran and calling for a “world without wars”.
In London, people protesting the war in Iran held placards reading “Stop the far right” and “Stand up to racism”.
A person holds a sign depicting U.S. President Donald Trump as a large crowd gathers outside the Minnesota State Capitol during the national “No Kings” day of protest in Saint Paul, Minnesota, March 28, 2026. Nationwide protests against U.S. President Donald Trump are expected on Saturday as millions of people vent their fury over what they see as his authoritarian lawlessness and other forms of violence. It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a local movement called ‘No Kings’, the most vocal and visible vehicle for opposition to Trump since his second term in January 2025. (Photo by Kerem YUCEL / AFP)(AFP)
And on Saturday morning in Paris, several hundred people, mostly Americans living in France, along with French labor unions and human rights organizations gathered at the Bastille.
“I protest against all of Trump’s illegal, immoral, reckless and reckless endless wars,” said Ada Shen, organizer of Paris No Kings.
