Tens of thousands of Connecticut residents are expected to rally at dozens of events across the state Saturday as part of the national No Kings protests.
Demonstrations are expected from New London to the state Capitol in Hartford to Greenwich to protest President Donald Trump’s actions.
About 12,000 people attended October’s No Kings rally at the state Capitol, and about the same are expected Saturday, the Connecticut State Capitol Police said. Rally organizers are expecting the crowd to be closer to 20,000.
The Connecticut protests are among thousands of rallies scheduled across the country. National organizers say they're planning their largest demonstrations yet to oppose what they describe as authoritarianism under Trump.
National organizers said in a statement that rights are “being taken away at home,” while Trump wages an “illegal war abroad” where American service members have died and untrained ICE agents have been sent to airports “to instill fear among travelers.” Meanwhile, organizers point to the partial government shutdown as a “TSA worker funding crisis of his administration’s own making.”
“Americans are fed up with this constant chaos,” the statement said. “And they’re ready to stand in solidarity against the Trump administration’s overreach and heinous acts against working families and immigrants."
Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has called the protests as the “Hate America rally.”
Johnson told Fox Business Network about the October protests: "It'll be a collection of wild leftist policy priorities, and that'll be on display for the whole country."
The Associated Press and Connecticut Public’s Chris Polansky contributed to this report.
