“No Kings” protest at Leisure World in Silver Spring, June 14, 2025. Photograph by Norie Quintos.
Hours earlier than the primary tanks began rolling within the America 250 army parade, hundreds of individuals took to the streets all through the Washington, DC, area to protest Donald Trump and his administration.
From Silver Spring and Bethesda and Gaithersburg in Maryland, to Fairfax and Falls Church and Arlington in Virginia, folks all through the area got here out for “No Kings Day of Defiiance” protests. (There was not a “No Kings” protest in DC itself, however there was a march from Logan Circle to the White Home organized by Refuse Fascism.)
In Falls Church, a whole bunch of “No Kings” protestors lined a several-block stretch of Broad Road close to the Complete Meals. They waved indicators that proclaimed “DEMOCRACY NOT DICTATORS,” ‘VACCINES CAUSE ADULTS,” and “ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FASCIST LIARS” (that signal featured artwork that nodded to Smokey Bear). They sometimes broke into chants comparable to “Hey, ho, Donald Trump has received to go.” Spurred on by “HONK FOR DEMOCRACY” indicators, drivers in automobiles of every kind—automobiles, supply vans, cement mixers, buses—tooted and laid on their horns. One automobile driving by blared “Do You Hear the Individuals Sing?” from Les Miserables. A lady blew cleaning soap bubbles over the gang.
Scenes just like that performed out all through the metro space.In Arlington—the “No Kings” protest closest to the parade route in downtown DC—an estimated 5,000 folks lined Langston Boulevard from Rosslyn to Falls Church, some 5.2 miles, based on ARLNow. Drivers on Route 66 in Arlington additionally handed beneath banners, flags, and waving protestors on the overpasses. In the meantime, at a protest on the entrance gates of Leisure World in Silver Spring, some senior attendees could have needed to stay seated whereas holding indicators however appeared no much less outraged.
“I used to be blown away by the dimensions and vitality of the gang,” mentioned one man who attended the Arlington protest. “For me it was about defending democracy.”
“No Kings” organizers say that protests have been held in 2,100 US cities and cities, and drew greater than 5 million contributors. In keeping with organizers, greater than 200,000 confirmed up in New York Metropolis, and greater than 100,000 in Philadelphia.
Beneath, the scenes from a number of protests held within the area.
Editor in chief
Sherri Dalphonse joined Washingtonian in 1986 as an editorial intern, and labored her technique to the highest of the masthead when she was named editor-in-chief in 2022. She oversees the journal’s editorial workers, and guides the journal’s tales and course. She lives in DC.
