Hours before the first tanks started rolling in the America 250 military parade, thousands of people took to the streets throughout the Washington, DC, region to protest Donald Trump and his administration.
From Silver Spring and Bethesda and Gaithersburg in Maryland, to Fairfax and Falls Church and Arlington in Virginia, people throughout the region came out for “No Kings Day of Defiance” protests. (There was not a “No Kings” protest in DC itself, but there was a march from Logan Circle to the White House organized by Refuse Fascism.)
In Falls Church, hundreds of “No Kings” protestors lined a several-block stretch of Broad Street near the Whole Foods. They waved signs that proclaimed “DEMOCRACY NOT DICTATORS,” ‘VACCINES CAUSE ADULTS,” and “ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FASCIST LIARS” (that sign featured art that nodded to Smokey Bear). They occasionally broke into chants such as “Hey, ho, Donald Trump has got to go.” Spurred on by “HONK FOR DEMOCRACY” signs, drivers in vehicles of all kinds—cars, delivery trucks, cement mixers, buses—tooted and laid on their horns. One car driving by blared “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miserables. A woman blew soap bubbles over the crowd.
Scenes similar to that played out throughout the metro area.In Arlington—the “No Kings” protest closest to the parade route in downtown DC—an estimated 5,000 people lined Langston Boulevard from Rosslyn to Falls Church, some 5.2 miles, according to ARLNow. Drivers on Route 66 in Arlington also passed underneath banners, flags, and waving protestors on the overpasses. Meanwhile, at a protest at the entrance gates of Leisure World in Silver Spring, some senior attendees may have had to remain seated while holding signs but seemed no less outraged.
“I was blown away by the size and energy of the crowd,” said one man who attended the Arlington protest. “For me it was about defending democracy.”
“No Kings” organizers say that protests were held in 2,100 US cities and towns, and drew more than 5 million participants. According to organizers, more than 200,000 showed up in New York City, and more than 100,000 in Philadelphia.
Below, the scenes from a few protests held in the region.
Sherri Dalphonse joined Washingtonian in 1986 as an editorial intern, and worked her way to the top of the masthead when she was named editor-in-chief in 2022. She oversees the magazine’s editorial staff, and guides the magazine’s stories and direction. She lives in DC.
