News & Politics

What is ‘No Kings’ about? Dozens of anti-Trump protests planned in Minnesota.

Organizers have planned rallies from Zumbrota to Albert Lea to protest the president’s administration.

By Kyeland Jackson and

Sydney Kashiwagi

The Minnesota Star Tribune

October 17, 2025 at 6:34PM

The last "No Kings" protest in Minnesota drew up to 30,000 to the State Capitol on June 14, 2025. (Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Dozens of rallies are planned across Minnesota on Saturday to protest the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Issues such as Trump’s immigration crackdown and the government shutdown are expected to be highlighted at the rallies and more than a thousand others planned across the country Saturday.

Minnesota’s largest will likely take place at the Commons park in downtown Minneapolis. Beginning at 1 p.m., the gathering will feature music, a march and speeches from Attorney General Keith Ellison and other local leaders. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are not expected to attend.

What is the ‘No Kings’ protest?

Saturday’s “No Kings” events are an international protest against what organizers call “increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption” by Trump’s administration. More than 1,000 rallies are planned in places like Alaska, Puerto Rico, Germany and Iceland.

The first No Kings Day mobilized millions across the country on June 14. A crowd of up to 30,000 gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol and thousands more in Rochester and Duluth.

Organizers say thousands are expected to attend Saturday’s rally downtown, which is one of more than 90 No Kings protests planned across the North Star State.

Organizers had hoped to rally at the State Capitol again, but the site was reserved for the Judicial Accountability Movement’s third annual rally against corruption.

When is it?

All No Kings rallies are expected to be held Saturday, but they will begin at different times across Minnesota. Organizers shared a searchable map that includes those rallies’ start and end times.

What Republicans are saying

House GOP leadership, including Rep. Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise have all described the upcoming “No Kings” rallies as a “hate America rally.”

“This is about one thing and one thing only, to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold … a hate America rally in D.C. next week,” Minnesota’s Emmer said during a House Republican leadership news conference last week as he addressed Democrats’ reasoning for a government shutdown.

Emmer later said Democrats were “playing to the most radical small and violent base in the country. You’ll see them on Saturday on the Mall, they just do not love this country and these guys are afraid of them.”

Johnson has described the protesters as “Antifa people” who come from the “pro-Hamas wing.”

Event organizers say that is not true.

“We actually love America and that’s why we’re out here, because America was founded on the ideal that everyone is equal under the law,” Drew Harmon with Minnesota 50501 said at a news conference Friday. “Donald Trump and his administration are acting as though they are better than the law. So we love America so much that we are here protesting against that.”

Where are ‘No Kings’ rallies being held in Minnesota?

While the downtown Minneapolis rally is expected to draw a large crowd, there are dozens of others planned across the state on Saturday -- from rallies along a highway overpass in South St. Paul to City Hall in rural Thief River Falls. A map of planned rallies can be found on the www.nokings.org website.