An estimated 100,000 protesters turned out to rally against the Trump administration during a massive “No Kings” march through Midtown on Saturday, calling for the president’s despotic policies to come to an abrupt end.
Gathering in Times Square, protesters carrying signs reading, “No Kings make the world a better place” and “Trump is a traitor,” lined up for several blocks as they began their way through the heart of Manhattan to Union Square, aerial shots taken in Midtown Saturday show.
Similar No Kings protests, billed as a nationwide “day of defiance” against Trump and his hard-line immigration policies were held in each borough and across the country.
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Protesters march during a “No Kings” protest Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
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Protesters march during a “No Kings” protest Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
The first No Kings protest, held this past June, coincided with Trump’s birthday and military parade in Washington, D.C.. About 50,000 turned out to protest in New York City.
Saturday’s protest saw twice that number, city officials said.
Very little has changed in the last four months, protesters said. They angrily cited the Trump administration’s current war on New York City’s transit system — just on Thursday, federal regulators demanded the city halt work on Manhattan’s recently revived 34th St. busway — continued ICE operations, and the since-abandoned push to strip millions in federal anti-terror funding from the NYPD.
“I’m appalled at what’s going on in this country. I can’t believe it,” said one 73-year-old protester, who identified herself as Lisa. “I feel like I’m living in Nazi Germany, I feel like I’m in a science-fiction movie — and nobody’s doing anything.”
Trump is going after immigrants and disenfranchised Americans “just because,” Lisa said.
“The fact that Congress is letting him do whatever he wants, that’s my biggest issue,” she said. “Trump is Trump. He’s a piece of s—. And with no ethics, morals, whatever. But the fact that the Congress allows him to do this, I think, is what upsets me the most.”
Upper West Side native Robbi Conal, 81, who held up an oil painting of Trump with the words “Dick Tater” on it, said the Trump administration was “destroying” America.
“I’m really about working-class people and regular people and Trump is really for billionaires and all his cronies and the tech bros, and not really serving the American people who are taking the brunt of his corrupt policies,” Conal said.
While 100 people were arrested at New York City’s first No Kings event in the late spring, the NYPD said no arrests were made Saturday.
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‘No Kings Day Rally’ against Donald Trump along Prospect Park West in Brooklyn on Saturday Oct. 18, 2025. 1202. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
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‘No Kings Day Rally’ against Donald Trump along Prospect Park West in Brooklyn on Saturday Oct. 18, 2025. 1202. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
“We had more than 100,000 people across all five boroughs peacefully exercising their first amendment rights and the NYPD made zero protest-related arrests,” the department said on X.
Madeline Scheffler, 38, took the train from New Rochelle to Midtown to take part of the No Kings march with her 6-year-old daughter, Eloise.
“Why are we here, sweetie?” she asked her daughter as she marched through the streets.
Eloise’s answer was as adorable as it was defiant. “Because we don’t want kings,” the child said.
“My daughter should be home coloring or at the playground, but it felt really important to show her that there’s a lot of people who believe in what we believe in,” Scheffler said. “We think there’s room for everybody in our country and we think families shouldn’t be separated.
“People who we elect to lead us should be thinking more about the people than themselves,” she said. “And that’s not happening right now at all levels of government.”
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‘No Kings Day Rally’ against Donald Trump at MacDonald Park at 106-28 Queens Boulevard in Queens on Saturday Oct. 18, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
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‘No Kings Day Rally’ against Donald Trump at MacDonald Park at 106-28 Queens Boulevard in Queens on Saturday Oct. 18, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Scheffler said she wanted to inspire her daughter to use her voice to speak out against injustice.
It’s not the child’s first protest, she added, though gazing around at the throngs of people, she said, “This is by far the largest!”
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