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NYC 'No Kings' demonstration floods Times Square amid national protests
By
Paige Oamek
Published Oct 18, 2025
Modified Oct 18, 2025
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Paige Oamek/Gothamist
By
Paige Oamek
Published Oct 18, 2025
Modified Oct 18, 2025
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No Kings demonstrations took place nationwide on Saturday, including in New York City, where tens of thousands turned out to protest President Donald Trump and what critics say is the authoritarian rule that has come to mark his presidency.
New York City's biggest crowds convened in Times Square, but smaller groups also participated throughout the five boroughs.
By 11:30 a.m., thousands of protesters carrying signs that read “resist the fascist traitors” and “No Crowns, No Kings” were spilling into the street amid Broadway’s Saturday matinee crowd.
David Wildman, 67, of the Upper West Side was there with a contingent of parishioners from from St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church.
“There are Methodists and other Christians gathering at all the 2,600 sites around the country because this is really an affront to the Gospel,” he said of the Trump administration’s actions. “At every turn this administration is going against the Gospel of Jesus.”
The public demonstration comes amid heightening anxiety as the president has dispatched the National Guard and federal agents to cities across the United States, ostensibly to combat crime.
Trump, a New Yorker, has so far spared his hometown from that attention. But America's biggest city is also one of its most liberal, and over 100,000 people showed up to local No Kings protests on Saturday, according to the NYPD.
Charlotte Kreutz, a retired costume designer from Jersey City, was marching with her daughter and a friend.
Sadly, she said, she was still able to make use of the same sign she took to the first No Kings protest in June. It read “ No King/ No ICE Prisons/ No Police State.”
“ I was saying to my friend that it's interesting that Trump hasn't done any MAGA rallies lately,” Kreutz said. “So that's my hope. I'm out here because maybe [his supporters] are getting disgruntled and if they see enough people doing stuff like this, they'll go, ‘Wait a minute. Maybe we're giving him credit he doesn't deserve.’”
City officials announced shortly after 11 a.m. that police and emergency personnel would be dispatched along Seventh Avenue between Times Square and 14th Street. They encouraged anyone not involved in the demonstration to avoid the area.
Marchers gather at Times Square for the No Kings rally in Manhattan Saturday
Paige Oamek/Gothamist
A handful of Trump supporters gathered outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in front of a large banner that read "Trump for King." Dion Cini, 56, of Sheepshead Bay said he's been a longtime supporter of the president, especially his actions to deport undocumented immigrants.
"Our economy is really going good," he said. "We just don't know why they're having the 'No Kings' protest. We don't understand it. I don't know what they're unhappy about."
Trump supporters gathered outside Trump Tower Saturday.
Paige Oamek/Gothamist
Ellen Flenniken of the American Civil Liberties Union said the group trained more than 20,000 people on their protest rights ahead of Saturday's protests.
“The response that we have seen all across the country is that folks are eager to proudly, peacefully and lawfully exercise their First Amendment rights,” she said.
Police said the majority of protests dispersed by 3 p.m. and no protest-related arrests had been made.
Ben Feuerherd contributed reporting.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Tagged
Politics
new york city
public safety
Paige Oamek
Paige Oamek is a reporter on Gothamist & WNYC's day-of general assignment desk.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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