Massive protests against US President Donald Trump kicked off on Saturday across the United States and beyond, as millions of people vent their fury over what they see as his authoritarian bent and other forms of cruel, law-trampling governance.

It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a grassroots movement called "No Kings," the most vocal and visual conduit for opposition to Trump since he began his second term in January 2025.

The anti-Trump mood has spilled beyond US borders, with rallies on Saturday in European cities including Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome, where 20,000 people marched under a heavy police presence.

US protests also began in several cities including the capital Washington, marchers – including people with banners that blared "Trump Must Go Now!" and "Fight Fascism" – walked across a bridge over the Potomac River to the Lincoln Memorial, site of historic civil rights demonstrations of years past.

Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform his song "Streets of Minneapolis" in the twin city of Saint Paul, the capital of the northern state.

Springsteen wrote and recorded the protest ballad in just 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens shot dead by federal agents during January protests against Trump's immigration offensive.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2024, told the crowd in Saint Paul that their resistance to Trump and his policies makes them "the heart and soul" of everything good about the US.

"They call us radicals," Walz said.

"You're damn right we've been radicalised — radicalised by compassion, radicalised by decency, radicalised by due process, radicalised by democracy, and radicalised to do all we can to oppose authoritarianism."

US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Trump critic who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, was another speaker at the event in Minnesota.

With midterm elections later this year in the US, organisers say they have seen a surge in the number of people organizing anti-Trump events and registering to participate in deeply Republican states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Utah.

Competitive suburban areas that have helped decide national elections are seeing "huge" increases in interest, said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of Indivisible, the group that started the "No Kings" movement last year and led planning of Saturday's events.

She ⁠cited examples in Pennsylvania's Bucks and Delaware counties, East Cobb and Forsyth in Georgia, and Scottsdale and Chandler in Arizona. (Agencies)


Edited by Tony Sabine