At least 40,000 to 50,000 Portlanders took to downtown streets yesterday, Saturday, October 18, to march, wave signs, and raise their voices against the increasingly authoritarian policies of President Trump—though some estimated the crowd size to be much larger.
The march was just one of at least 2,700 similar demonstrations that happened across the nation yesterday, attracting an estimated count of between 5 million and 8 million participants—making it one of the largest demonstrations in American history. In Oregon, marches occurred in more than 50 locations, with downtown Portland’s demonstration being the largest. It was the second national No Kings march, the first being held on June 14 coinciding with the 79th birthday of the president, who at the time held a military parade in his own honor.
National No Kings organizers said Saturday’s marches were intended to unite people “to speak out against authoritarian policies and reaffirm that America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.”
Participants of Portland’s No Kings march met at noon on Waterfront Park at the Battleship Memorial, where local officials and others spoke before a massive crowd. Among the speakers were City Councilors Sameer Kanal and Angelita Morillo, who reminded the crowd that centering the needs of immigrants and other marginalized communities who are being targeted by the administration should be the ultimate goal.
“Immigrants, whether they are citizens, have green cards, or asylum or refugee status, or nothing at all, every single one of them has human rights and the right to due process in this country,” Kanal said.
“As the veterans, who are protesting here today, say, ‘The war always comes home,’” Councilor Morillo told the growing crowd. “So when we do not care for our neighbors abroad, and we do not care for our neighbors here, we are always going to be the ones who come next. We have a moral obligation to draw a line in the sand.”
As tens of thousands of people marched for roughly two miles downtown and over the Hawthorne and Morrison bridges, it served as a backdrop for Trump’s most recent attempts to federalize the National Guard and send them to Portland—ostensibly to help guard the ICE facility which has been the subject of mostly peaceful protests. After a federal judge awarded the city and state with two emergency temporary restraining orders (TRO) to keep the Guard out of Portland—both of which are still in effect—the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has promised a ruling on whether these TROs will hold, though after almost two weeks, no decision has been handed down.
Meanwhile, as protesters marched and waved signs through downtown, many had strong words and opinions to share regarding the Trump administration and their attempts to whittle away at the foundations of democracy. The crowd chanted familiar slogans—”Whose streets? Our streets!” and “Show me what Democracy looks like!”—but a few, more pointed chants were heard as well. At one point, a group walked across the Hawthorne Bridge calling “How do you spell Nazi? I-C-E.”
In the time since Portland’s last No Kings protest was held in June, protesters have embraced the inflatable costume as an icon of resistance. The blow-up costume trend took off earlier this month, after Portlander Seth Todd was pepper sprayed by federal agents while wearing an inflatable frog costume at a protest outside Portland’s ICE facility. At the October 18 No Kings march, inflatable costumes were everywhere. People dressed as unicorns, dinosaurs, chickens, bald eagles, a stalk of asparagus, the Statue of Liberty riding a blow-up dragon, and much more.
Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of frogs. One of the people donning an inflatable frog costume, who goes by the nickname Slurmit (apparently a play on Kermit), told the Mercury they thought the funny animal outfits were the perfect way to refute the federal government’s claims about Portland. Slurmit, who is responsible for the “Frogs Together Strong” sign, founded the Portland Frog Brigade after seeing the federal agents pepper spray Todd at the ICE facility. Slurmit told the Mercury that the US under the Trump administration is “just not the kind of America that I want to live in.”
“When Trump started lying about Portland being on fire and being a war zone, that’s what broke it for me. I thought, ‘How can I best support this?” Slurmit said. “What would be better than one frog? More frogs. I ordered more costumes, grabbed friends, and we went out there. We’re not agitators in the Portland Frog Brigade. We stand back, we bring love, peace, and joy to dark situations.”
One participant, Andrea, told the Mercury she was struck by the sheer number of protesters who came out to the event, representing a range of political ideologies.
“There are people coming out to protest now who thought they’d never protest something,” Andrea said. “When you see those kinds of numbers, it really shows that people are speaking up and saying, ‘We don’t want this, we don’t want our country to be like this.’”
Andrea also pointed out that many of the protesters carried American flags and signs with patriotic messages—a refutation of the Trump administration’s claims that those protesting the current government are anti-American.
“These are just people with their kids and grandmas, and they’re all taking the time to show up,” Andrea said. “This many people thought it was important enough to spend their whole Saturday here.”
Additional reporting supplied by Corbin Smith and Courtney Vaughn.
