Updated 5:03 p.m.
Thousands rallied at about 50 events across Vermont on Saturday, part of the third “No Kings Day” protests in opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency.
Protesters held gatherings in nearly every county across the state for the nationwide day of action, which was set to include more than 3,000 organized events across the country.
In Vermont, protesters voiced their opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, war in Iran, attacks on women’s rights and more.
Four rallies from neighborhoods around Burlington converged in City Hall Park Saturday afternoon, where activists and organizers gathered to give speeches and sing songs.
“I’m hoping we can dump Trump, stop ICE and have peace,” said protester Marguerite Francescani, a city resident, pointing to the colorful signs she wore.
The protests come as the Trump administration’s immigration priorities have hit a flashpoint close to home.
In early March, federal immigration agents’ attempts to detain one man escalated into a prolonged standoff between federal immigration authorities, state and local police and protesters outside a Dorset Street home in South Burlington.
Though immigration was a top issue for protesters, topics ran the gamut of progressive causes and anti-authoritian stances.
Vermont’s political leaders, advocates and activists alike spoke at rallies across the state. U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., was scheduled to speak in Montpelier, and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., in Bennington.
Saturday’s protests follow earlier No Kings events, which thousands of Vermonters attended in June and October. The weekend’s events were organized by local groups, including 50501 Vermont and the Indivisible movement, a nationwide progressive activist group founded in the wake of Donald Trump’s first election.
Montpelier
Brett Chornyak had the singular distinction of standing farthest from the action at Saturday’s No Kings rally in Montpelier.
But you couldn’t miss him.
Leaning against the State Office Building across the street from the Capitol, facing a sea of fleece, flannel and parkas, Chornyak, a Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development grants manager from Richmond, stood alone, banging a makeshift drum that echoed down the block.
This was his third No Kings rally. He hasn’t missed one.
“I think it’s a message,” he said, pausing his drumming as he scanned the crowd. “It’s a message for all of us. We need to be involved in our democracy. We need to speak out.”
Around him, roughly 10,000 people filled the Statehouse lawn and nearby street, waving signs against the war in Iran, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, oil interests, Vice President J.D. Vance and, of course, President Trump.
“When our work is done, we will prevail,” Sen. Welch told the crowd.
“Your voice is leading the way. Love has got to motivate us. Not anger, not hate,” he said.
In the state’s capital city, where even dogs wear signs of protest, attendees packed the sunlit lawn, including one woman dressed as Abigail Adams, the nation’s second first lady, whom she called the “spirit of democracy past.”
What appeared to be the only dustup of the day — mild as it was — unfolded off to the side of the stage, where a man in a red MAGA hat waved a “Vermont for Trump” flag. As a rallygoer confronted him and hurled insults, another onlooker stepped in to deescalate the exchange in signature Vermont style.
“Please read a book,” the man said, smiling gently. “Please.”
The Trump supporter continued waving his flag as he walked away from the Capitol toward State Street.
Nearby, Rachel Gates-Smith observed as she held a sign: “No sign is big enough for all the reasons.”
“We’re for democracy, not dictatorships,” Gates-Smith said.
She had come to Montpelier with her fellow sign-holder, Jennifer Wedge. They’re both from Waterbury.
“We needed to be with the people today,” Wedge said.
Brattleboro
In Brattleboro, protesters estimated to equal the 3,000 who attended past local No Kings events marched through downtown Saturday morning carrying signs that declared everything from “Prevent Truth Decay” to “Kindness Trumps Chaos.”
After, organizers hosted six community conversations on topics ranging from political organizing to protecting elections to responding to potential action by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Protests and rallies are good for organizing what comes next,” Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, said at a dialogue promoted as a chance to “get out of our own way and remember how to not just persuade but learn and listen.”
A nearby conversation on enlisting and empowering young people drew a smaller crowd that mirrored the older-skewing march.
“It’s apathy driven by disillusionment,” newly elected Brattleboro Selectboard member Nell Mayo, 25, said of the fewer participants under age 40.
Richmond
At 10 a.m. about 120 people lined the road at the Richmond park and ride, waving signs and cheering as passing cars honked.
Teresa Celemin, a Hinesburg resident in her 60s, held a big yellow cardboard sign in the shape of a crown.
“I’m here to protest the dismantling of our democracy and this despicable administration,” she said.
She is particularly bothered by the dismantling of women’s rights, abortion rights and trans rights, she added.
Jennifer Sprague, 66, of Richmond, held a sign that read, “Rule of Law Due Process For All.” She said she came to participate in a historic day and to show her opposition to the Trump administration. “What’s going right? Not much,” she said. “The saddest thing is all the people who support him.”
Burlington
Fran Lockwood, 63, of Burlington, said she marched with her friends from the Old North End to fight for reproductive rights and to be in community, which she called the best antidote for those suffering anxiety in difficult times.
Next to her, Dorothy Commo, also a city resident, wore a neon green vest that read “Peaceful Protestor” on the front and “Stand With Us” across the back. “I really do believe American people want to take back the country, and we can do it together,” she said.
Kelly Hedglin Bowen, of St. George, wore a pink hat with horns and held a brightly colored sign that read, “I should not be forced to carry this presidency to term.”
“I’m out here to advocate for bodily autonomy and to raise awareness for the anti-women policies coming out of the White House,” she said. She’s particularly concerned about reproductive rights for women in the military.
“It’s an important issue that Americans aren’t talking enough about,” she said.
Nearby, a man held up a brown placard that simply read “Vets Against Trump.”
“I used to be in the army,” said Chris Murphy, 30. “There are many vets out there who don’t agree and feel embarrassed about what’s happening. So it’s important for us to speak out.”
Despite the chill in the air and many anti-ICE and anti-Trump signs, there was a general spirit of camaraderie. Most of the participants said they were for peace and community.
“I think I wanted to show up in a unified community to show we are not happy with the country’s state, but we can still show up for each other,” said Norah Stubbs, 19, who attended the rally downtown with three of her friends, all students at St. Michael’s College.
White River Junction
An estimated 3,000 people spanned a busy intersection where the White River meets the Connecticut in White River Junction.
Organizers held a memorial circle for those harmed by ICE and Border Patrol. The Upper Valley Singing Resistance led songs and drum rhythms. In one section, people could participate in “rage knitting,” as Erin Walthour, a Grantham, New Hampshire, resident and organizer with the Upper Valley Visibility Brigade, described it. They knit little red hats, a symbol of resistance against the Nazis in occupied Norway during World War II. Many attendees donned their own red caps.
Walthour hoped that the variety gave anyone a way to participate in the activism. “There are a lot of ways you can resist. There’s a lane for you, no matter what your thing is,” she said.
Larry Dupre, from Windsor, has attended many rallies against the Trump administration, he said. To his eyes, Saturday’s event drew fewer people than in the past, but “it’s more urgent and enthusiastic today,” he said.
He was joined by Dawn Hare, his Windsor neighbor. She waved a trans pride flag and a sign that said, “No Kings, Queens Welcome.”
Trans rights are a particularly important issue for her, she said: “I will never ever shut up about it. We all deserve liberty.”
Shelley Andrew crossed the river from West Lebanon, New Hampshire, for her second protest of the day, bringing along her 8-year-old granddaughter.
“She’s got it in her blood. That’s what we’re raising her to do,” Andrew said. She has been attending protests since Trump was first elected but still grew emotional recounting the lives lost at the hands of ICE and in foreign wars.
“People are dying and they shouldn’t be dying, because of him,” she said.
Walthour, the organizer, looked to the next generation as a primary motivation for her activism. She said her 2-year-old and 5-year-old at home were the reason she was there.
“I grew up in a country I recognized, and I don’t recognize this America,” she said. “I want them to recognize their country.”
There are “too many issues, too little cardboard” to list out all the reasons she felt frustrated by the current administration, Walthour said. But she has a particular soft spot for veterans’ affairs. Her mother worked at the VA hospital in White River Junction for 30 years, she said, and a number of her family members were in the armed forces.
“I have a lot of respect that they give me the freedom to do this.” she said.
St. Albans
Waitsfield
