Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender) 
Protesters gather at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, during a “No Kings” rally condemning what participants call President Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest that drew millions across the U.S. and abroad. (D’Angelo Connell/Tri-State Defender)
Large crowds of protesters marched and rallied in Memphis and in cities across the U.S. Saturday, Oct. 18, for ” No Kings ” demonstrations, decrying what participants see as the government’s swift drift into authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
Thousands of people from all walks of life — students, activists,clergy, veterans, parents — came from every corner of Memphis gathered in the greenspace at Poplar and Highland for the rally coordinated by Indivisible Memphis.
The day was packed with speakers representing various causes for what organizers call a national day of action.
The crowd included people from different cultures bringing different messages. Collectively, the crowd was mostly showing their love for America while also showing their disdain for how the country is being run. The atmosphere felt like a pep rally of sorts — not to cheer but to show unity in displeasure.
Around the country, protesters packed into New York City’s Times Square and rallied by the thousands in parks in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. Demonstrators marched through Washington and downtown Los Angeles and picketed outside capitols in several Republican-led states, a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and at hundreds of smaller public spaces.
Trump’s Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations as “Hate America” rallies, but in many places, including Memphis, the events looked more like a street party.
It was the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and came against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services but is testing the core balance of power, as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that protest organizers warn are a slide toward authoritarianism.
National reports estimate around 7 million people participated in rallies across the U.S.
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
