Thousands of people are expected to protest across the Pacific Northwest on Saturday during the “No Kings 2.0” protest. It’s the latest nationwide protest against President Donald Trump’s administration and will take place in more than 70 locations across Oregon. Dozens more are expected in Washington.
The first No Kings protest took place in June and drew more than 50,000 protesters to downtown Portland alone, according to Mayor Keith Wilson’s office. City streets were filled with a sea of protesters and signs, as demonstrators marched across multiple Portland bridges. Thousands of protesters also gathered in Eugene, Corvallis, and numerous other Oregon cities.
Portland police said there were no arrests during that protest.
There was also a national “Hands Off” demonstration in April that saw thousands take to the streets across the Pacific Northwest in protest of the “illegal, billionaire power grab” by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
The nationwide protests against the president have been largely organized by the progressive grassroots organizations 50501 Movement and Indivisible.
Now organizers say they’re protesting the influx of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in American cities and the deployment of National Guard members to protect federal property.
“President Trump has doubled down,” No Kings organizers wrote. “The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings and we don’t back down against chaos, corruption and cruelty.”
Portland, in particular, has found itself in the national spotlight. Trump has attempted to deploy hundreds of National Guard members to the city, saying they’re necessary to protect the Portland ICE facility from violent demonstrators.
Local and state officials have said that Trump’s claims are false and that there’s no need for federal troops anywhere in Oregon.
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing any National Guard members from being deployed in Portland. The federal government has asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the order. As of Friday, the court still had not issued a ruling.
There were large demonstrations around the ICE facility in the wake of the first No Kings protest, and they saw sporadic instances of violence between protesters and Portland police.
Since then, protests have been generally much smaller and mostly peaceful.
In a Friday press conference, Portland Police Assistant Chief Craig Dobson said he didn’t have an estimate on the crowd size, but expected it to remain peaceful.
“It’s billed as a family-friendly event, so we’re expecting it to be much like the ones that we’ve seen in the summer,” Dobson said. “We’re not anticipating any issues.”
Trump has also threatened troop deployments in such cities as Chicago, Memphis and San Francisco.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
