Demonstrators took to the streets in cities and towns across Wisconsin Saturday for a “No Kings” protest designed to rebuke what organizers call a “dictator-like” birthday display from President Donald Trump.
The protests in Wisconsin mirrored similar demonstrations across the country intended as counter-programing to a massive military parade in Washington Saturday night. The parade, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.
The display in the nation’s capital will include tanks and helicopter fly-bys. It’s expected to cost between $25 million and $45 million, according to an Army spokesperson. That could include post-parade costs to repair roads in Washington, which aren’t built to handle heavy armored vehicles.
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In Wisconsin, there were demonstrations in communities from Waukesha to Eagle River, with crowds that numbered in the thousands in Madison and Milwaukee.
15,000 march to Wisconsin Capitol
In Madison, police said 15,000 people attended Saturday’s protest, which began on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus before demonstrators marched to the Wisconsin Capitol.
During the march, a brass band played. At times, the large crowd nearly slowed to a halt. Scores of protestors waved American flags. Others displayed Mexican flags, LGBTQ+ rainbow pride flags and Palestinian flags.
Anthony Guevara said he came to the protest to stand up against the demonization of immigrants.
The Madison resident listened to speakers from the shade on the Capitol lawn, wearing a green and red Mexican soccer jersey and a crucifix around his neck.
“I’m here for the people that look like me,” said Guevara, whose parents came to the U.S. from Mexico and Guatemala. “I’m here for the people who can’t make it today. I’m here to represent what it is to be Mexican and Guatemalan. I want them to know that I will make that sacrifice the way they made that sacrifice for me.”
Growing up, Guevara said he watched his parents work multiple jobs to give him a better life.
“[My mom] used to work at these factories where they would call her a wetback or other racial slurs, but I don’t think that ever slowed her down,” Guevara said. “And that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Although Guevara’s parents have their papers, he said he knows people who don’t.
“These immigrants don’t consider themselves anything other than just American,” Guevara said. “They live here. They’re our neighbors, they’re our families, they’re our friends, and they support us.”
Cheryl Duerst of Madison arrived at the state Capitol wearing a T-shirt that said “vote like your ancestors died for your rights.”
She said she’s concerned about Trump disregarding due process.
“I just feel like it’s such a slippery slope that soon it won’t be just immigrants or people that they consider illegal,” Duerst said.
Duerst also said she’s alarmed by mass firings of federal workers. She said she wants to stop the country from moving backward.
“We’re reassigning names to Confederate generals — who we defeated,” Duerst said. “I just feel so unsettled by the whole thing.”
Trump has vowed to revert several military bases to names honoring Confederate generals.
Lisa Payne of Madison marched toward the state Capitol with her 5-year-old daughter.
“We’ve been rejecting kings with our constitution since 1776,” she said. “We don’t want one now.”
They were joined by Adria Payne, also of Madison, who said protecting women’s rights was among her top reasons for protesting.
One side of Payne’s sign read “No Gilead,” a reference to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Payne also expressed dismay about cuts to federal programs like Medicaid, and said she believes Trump is trying to trample on checks and balances.
“He’s not giving people due process,” Adria Payne said. “He’s just kind of went rogue.”
Carolyn Bakula of Madison said she wanted her presence Saturday to be a show of defiance.
“People have the power … they don’t need to be in fear of someone who thinks they’re a dictator,” Bakula said.
That sentiment was echoed by Julie David of Madison, who said she was troubled by Trump’s use of the country’s armed forces.
“Turning the military into, you know, against its citizens, is the most egregious thing he could do so far,” David said.
Michael Jones, a Madison public school teacher, said he felt encouraged by the turnout.
“Our existence is resistance,” Michael Jones said.
Jones was joined by his wife, Jessica, who said she wanted to channel her anger into action.
“I’m a perimenopausal woman who’s been angry since 2017, so I come to every one of these,” she said. “It feels really good to see how many people don’t want this.”
Mary Schroth of Monona danced and swayed to the sounds of the Forward! marching band as she stood at the edge of the crowd and directed protestors around Madison’s Capitol square.
Schroth wore a pink mesh vest, and said she was there with Women’s March to serve as a protest guide.
“I just want to keep people moving, and they seem to enjoy it,” she said.
Schroth was in high spirits, but she became much less upbeat when discussing her worries about the Trump administration.
“Too many people are suffering, and it’s just getting worse,” she said. “So let’s show our country that we’re not going to stand by.”
Thousands fill Milwaukee’s downtown Cathedral Square Park
In Milwaukee, thousands of protesters filled downtown Cathedral Square Park. Many held signs and American flags as they listened to speakers.
“There are people attempting to rob us of our rights. Are we gonna let them?” asked Emilio De Torre, executive director of the Milwaukee Turners social organization. The crowd roared “No” in response.
“They’re intentionally deploying American troops against the American people in an attempt to create fear,” he said, prompting loud jeers.
Many protestors stood in front of the park’s namesake Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. One of them was 45-year-old Claudia Avila, whose sign said “Jesus was an immigrant.”
Jesus, she said, “would go and talk about everything that they’re doing — going after families, separating families, putting children in cages, not caring that a child is deported to a country that they’ve never been to.”
Avila said she couldn’t believe there wasn’t more resistance to Trump’s actions by Congress.
“We gotta do something else, and I don’t know what that else is, but that’s why I’m here,” she said.
Adriana Orozco said she was at the rally for her parents, who immigrated from Mexico.
“Our parents have been here for more than thirty years, not even a citation, no tickets,” the 29-year-old Milwaukeean said.
Her sign said “Criminals don’t wake up at 5 in the morning to go to work.”
On the outskirts of the crowd, 68-year-old Genevieve Brown sat on the curb, resting while leaning against a fire hydrant.
“As a trans person, I know that we’re next,” she said.
She said she was “starting to go” to protests, including one earlier this week in Milwaukee.
“I talked the talk with my kids and other people, but now I gotta put myself out there and back it up,” she said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Olivia Metz said she’s starting to go to protests again after a break since 2020, when she said protests got “pretty intense.”
She wore a keffiyeh to show her support for Palestinians in Gaza.
“Ever since what’s been going on — like the genocide in Gaza — it’s been really tough to see,” she said.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
“Part of being an American is standing up for the rights of others,” said 26-year-old Matt Carter, who came with Metz.
As the speaking program concluded, protestors marched through downtown Milwaukee. Different parts of the crowd initiated their own chants, like “Donald Trump has got to go,” “Free Palestine,” and “Immigrants are welcome here.”
Robert Earl Baker Jr. watched the march go by.
“I want to save our Constitution, I want to save America. Our Constitution says we don’t have a king,” the 70-year-old from Milwaukee said.
He wore a sequined American flag cowboy hat and a “No Kings” t-shirt.
“I’m a true-blue Black American,” he said of his clothing. “I’m Black, but I’m American. I know nothing but America.”
Baker said his situation was no different than others in the crowd.
“They know nothing but America. We’re American. And the only way we can stay Americans, if we follow our Constitution.”
From Sturgeon Bay to Eagle River, protesters organize across Wisconsin
Beyond the state’s largest cities, protests happened in dozens of other places across the state.
In the Door County city of Sturgeon Bay, photos and videos shared by organizers showed what appeared to be close to a thousand demonstrators marching from Sawyer Park Saturday morning. They crossed a bridge over the bay to chants of “No kings, stand tall, no kings, at all.” Protesters carried signs reading “No Kings since 1776” and “Hate will not make us great.”
In the village of Rib Mountain, near Wausau, hundreds gathered in the rain for a protest spanning multiple street blocks.
In Northern Wisconsin, protesters also gave speeches in the community square of Eagle River, a city with a population of about 1,600.
It was sunny in Manitowoc when several hundred protesters gathered in the afternoon at Lighthouse Park. They chanted “who’s got the power? we’ve got the power” and held signs including “only king salmon.” Jill Iverson, an organizer with Progressive Lakeshore People, said the group also marched into the city’s downtown and back.
In Watertown, a city of about 23,000 residents midway between Madison and Milwaukee, organizers said a few hundred people demonstrated along a city thoroughfare, waving at cars driving past. Wendy Pliska of Social Justice Watertown said a few passersby called out to ask the protestors where they were from.
“[They] cannot conceive people from Watertown feel this way,” Pliska said.
Similarly, in Waukesha, where the surrounding county has long been a Republican stronghold, social media photos and videos show what appear to be several hundred people gathered on Wisconsin Avenue, waving at cars. They chanted “Donald Trump has got to go” and carried signs that read “we the people deserve better” and “when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”
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