1,500 Route 1 Residents Gathered for ‘No Kings’ Protest Saturday

More than 1,500 residents from the Route 1 corridor gathered for the “No Kings” rally this past Saturday.

Wearing colorful costumes and holding handmade signs, Residents protested the Trump administration’s actions, especially the strict enforcement of immigration laws, along a five-mile stretch of sidewalks on Route 1 from the circle in Mount Rainier all the way up to University Park.

The rally was organized by Indivisible Route 1 Corridor, with co-sponsors Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Maryland and Our Revolution as part of the national “No Kings” event, which brought out between 5 and 6.5 million Americans, the largest single-day political protest ever.

“‘No Kings’ isn’t just a slogan — it’s a reminder that the power belongs to the people,” said Indivisible Route 1 Corridor founder Stephanie DeLorenzo.

In keeping with a recent trend toward using humor, to challenge Trump’s portrayal of protesters as radicals, Route 1 residents wore clown noses and tricorn hats, played drums, waved American flags, “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, and a flag from “One Piece.” They dressed up as the Incredible Hulk in an Uncle Sam suit, a Tyrannosaurus rex, a handmaid, Pikachu, Marie Antoinette, Waldo, a chicken, the Easter Bunny, a Revolutionary War Bluecoat, and Patrick Star from “SpongeBob SquarePants,” among other costumes things.

A group of eight protesters in front of the Prince George’s District Court wore orange butterfly wings and held a sign that read “Monarchs, Not Monarchy.”

Some of the signs at the protest read “Crowns Crumble, People Rise,” “Pro-Democracy, Pro-America, Anti-Trump,” “No Parking Any Time,” “What Is ICE? Frail Snowflakes Huddled Together to Seem Hard,” “No Kings Since 1776,” “No Kings, Only Pretty Pretty Princesses,” “USA Anti-Fascist Since 1941,” “The Power of the People Is Stronger Than the People in Power,” “Freedom Not Kingdom,” “STOP Kidnapping My Neighbors,” “Immigrants Make America Great” and “I Am Not a Paid Actor.”

Indivisible Route 1 started in February and has held protests in April, May and June and in support of bringing Beltsville resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia home from a notorious Salvadoran prison.