Around 10,000 people gathered at Fort Collins’ City Civic Park March 28 for the third installment of No Kings, a nationwide protest against the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration. Over 3,000 protests occurred nationwide, with at least 70 demonstrations happening in Colorado.

Scheduled events began at 9:30 a.m. with poster making. Prior to marching, attendees had the opportunity to engage with over two dozen organizations that were tabling, watch musical performances from local artists and hear from various speakers from organizations like The Iris Center and the Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as the keynote speaker Rev. Gretchen Haley from Foothills Unitarian Church. The event’s organizers were committed to nonviolence, being held in cooperation with Fort Collins Police Services.

“One of the remarkable things about the No Kings rallies is the number of … people who aren’t particularly politically engaged (and) who are coming out to show their displeasure and disapproval of what’s going on in this country right now,” said James Scott, a member of the organizing team from Indivisible NOCO.

In reference to the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Rev. Haley from Foothills Unitarian Church shared her observations of “networks of care” in Minneapolis during her keynote speech. She encouraged attendees to use the day to engage in sustained acts to build similar relationships to those she witnessed.

“Isolation is our enemy, fear is our enemy and fascism is our enemy,” Haley said in her speech. “Awkwardness is a very small price to pay for becoming the kind of people who know how to keep each other safe. This country is not held by a king; it is held by the people. We are the people, and we keep us safe.”

Around 11:45 a.m., protesters began to peacefully move through Old Town, repeating protest chants such as “No kings. No crowns. We the people won’t bow down,” and, “Hey ho, hey ho, Donald Trump has got to go.” Protest signs featured messages aimed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ongoing crackdown on immigration, the war in Iran and Trump’s presence in the Epstein files.

Colorado State University student Jessica Terrell held up a sign featuring a quote from Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” series that read, “If we burn, you burn with us.”

“With how much shit they’re giving everyone in the United States, we need to give it back to them,” Terrell said.

Although some people outside of the march said they feel like protests don’t accomplish anything, Kathy, an attendee who didn’t provide a last name, said there was strength in unity and numbers at events like No Kings.

“We have the power to stop it, but it’s getting to the point where … they have accumulated a lot of power, and nobody seems to be willing to stand up to them within the government, which is really alarming,” Kathy said. “That’s why I’m here.”

Holding a sign that had a message about history repeating itself, Kathy said that America is at a tipping point, with signs pointing at the country heading toward a fascist or an authoritarian regime. She said Trump’s actions are similar to Adolf Hitler’s and compared ICE to Gestapo forces in Nazi Germany.

“It’s comforting to know there’s people that feel the same as I do, that there are people that feel like this isn’t right — this isn’t American,” Kathy said.

Elaine Holmes, a public school teacher in Northern Colorado, shared a similar sentiment and said she saw the protest as an opportunity for connection and a collective moment to create change by banding together. A frequent attendee of Fort Collins’ No Kings protests, Holmes’ sign pointed to her job as a teacher, particularly highlighting the funding of public schools and the rights of teachers to have an effect on the community. 

The conversation about education extended through CSU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, one of the event’s sponsors.

“We’re really concerned about the cuts in funding, the attacks on free speech for faculty, students, staff and the limitations and censorship of research that is occurring right now,” said Brian Munsky, co-chair of communications for the chapter and associate professor in the school of chemical and biological engineering at CSU. “Now’s the time for universities to really get engaged and start speaking out, trying to defend our rights, our student rights and the families of those students and employees of our universities.”

The event also collected items for the Food Bank for Larimer County, mirroring the October No Kings demonstration. Just under 1,000 pounds of food were donated, a decrease from the October event, which collected around 1,275 pounds of food, according to Glenna Dunnington, who worked at the donation station. While food donations saw a decrease, Dunnington said cash donations reached $1,371, an almost 300% increase from the last No Kings event.

Other organizations like the League of Women Voters of Larimer County offered assistance in registering voters ahead of the upcoming November midterms and handed out pocket-sized U.S. Constitutions in English and Spanish.

“Part of the goal here is to build similar networks (as Minneapolis) in Northern Colorado to get people to connect with each other and establish that trust … for when the need arises,” Scott said.

Musical resistance was also present at the event, with groups such as Notes of Dissent, an activist marching band, and Singing Resistance performing at the march, community singing prior to and after Haley’s speech, and one performer covering Bruce Springsteen’s newly released song, “Streets of Minneapolis.”

While No Kings lacked significant counterprotests, some smaller alternative demonstrations were held, such as No Colonizers, a mutual aid event that took place outside the Fort Collins Museum of Art. The event featured organizations such as Fort Collins’ tenant solidarity union and CSU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, as well as an open mic. The event partially arose from concerns about the march route passing by Flock cameras, attendees of the mutual aid event said.

Scott said Indivisible NOCO was aware of the Flock camera concerns and safety was top priority, noting police and drone presence.

“This protest is this alternative event named No Colonizers because we’re beyond the point of feudalism,” said Sophia Johnson, CSU student and co-president of SJP. “We’re beyond the point of kings, right? What we’re dealing with right now is authoritarianism. We’re dealing with capitalist systems. We’re dealing with U.S. imperialism. We’re dealing with colonialism. The purpose of No Kings seems to be asking for a regime change instead of the end of the regime.”