Thousands of protesters filled streets across Maryland on Saturday as part of the nationwide “No Kings” demonstrations, one of the largest coordinated protest actions of the year against President Donald Trump’s administration.

Marchers gathered in Columbia, Bethesda, Baltimore and dozens of other communities, waving signs and chanting in defense of civil rights and democratic institutions.

The Maryland rallies were among hundreds of similar protests across the country, drawing participants young and old, many wearing patriotic symbols and carrying messages calling for accountability, due process and the protection of constitutional freedoms.

Organizers said turnout in Maryland reflected growing frustration and mobilization at the grassroots level heading into next year’s election.

The demonstrations came just hours after the assassination of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses inside their homes, an attack that has intensified concerns about political violence. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz urged residents in his state to avoid Saturday’s protests as the manhunt for the suspect continues.

At the Annapolis “No Kings” protest, organizers paused the rally to share news of the Minnesota political assassinations, calling for peace and denouncing violence against public servants. The crowd, which mixed patriotic symbolism with sharp criticism of President Trump, stood for a moment of silence before resuming chants and speeches.

Just a week after having his right knee replaced, 70-year-old Tom Collier found himself doing something he’d never done before: joining a protest.

Driven by concerns over cuts to USAID, President Donald Trump’s attacks on civil rights, and what he sees as a disregard for the rule of law, Collier walked alongside Broken Land and Little Patuxent parkways in Columbia on Saturday for the “No Kings” demonstration.

“It’s time for everybody to get off their butts and get involved,” said Collier, of Marriottsville. “It’s past time to get involved.”

Collier was one of thousands — many wearing Americana gear, T-shirts emblazoned with crossed-out crowns, and holding signs demanding the restoration of democracy — who gathered under gray skies and a light drizzle for the rally.

This protest falls in line with hundreds of other protests across the country, similar to May Day and Hands Off Democracy.

Amy Smith attended those and was out in Howard County Saturday dawning a Founding Fathers costume.

The 30-year history teacher said concerns for her disenfranchised students, the right to due process and what she believes is the suppression of people’s rights keeps her at these protests. Being among the thousands in Howard County on Saturday was inspiring and powerful for her, Smith said.

She hopes it encourages other people to get involved. “People can’t sit around and be complacent because, the moment you stop fighting for your rights, you’re going to lose them,” Smith said.

Joel Hughey attended the Hands-Off Democracy protest in Catonsville earlier this year.

The Columbia dad was at the “No Kings” demonstration Saturday with his 14-year-old son and octogenarian parents.

This year is Hughey’s first time coming out to protests, he said.

“Things have gotten so bad that I want to make sure my voice is heard along with all these other wonderful voices,” Hughey said.

Although his experience protesting is limited to this year, Hughey said he’s already seeing demonstrations like Saturday’s grow in numbers and diversity - an observation many found both heartening and saddening for how vast the impacts of recent policies have spread.

Due process and the federal workers and research scientists who live in Howard County is what led Councilwoman Deb Jung to join many of her constituents on Saturday.

As vehicles passed honking their horns and arousing the crowd, Jung, a candidate for Howard County executive, believes rallies will only get larger and louder heading into next year’s election.

“We will not put up with this autocracy for four years,” Jung said.

Millions of Americans are expected to show up at protests across the country Saturday, in a “nationwide day of defiance,” protesting President Donald Trump’s administration, including the president’s defiance of court orders and moves to slash government programs.

The organizers of the “No Kings” protests list hundreds of protests in every state, including dozens in Maryland. Local organizers said they expect thousands of people to show up at these demonstrations across the state, from Cumberland to Salisbury. Notably, there’s not one planned in Washington, D.C. — organizers have said they want to draw a clear contrast with the military parade happening in the nation’s capital that day, on Trump’s birthday.

‘This is what Democracy looks like!’

In downtown Bethesda, thousands of protesters overran the streets on Saturday, lining up along Wisconsin Avenue and centering their demonstrations in front of the local FOX television news affiliate.

The sound of honking cars passing by and crowds cheering in response played on a loop throughout the early afternoon as the sun struggled to break through an overcast sky on a humid day.

A diverse crowd ranging from teenagers to senior citizens broke out into chants of “This is what Democracy looks like!” and “RFK has got to go!”

Most were carrying patriotic-themed signs about the Constitution, including Larry Atkins, who works in healthcare and displayed a quote from Thomas Jefferson: “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.”

That quote, he said, is what brought him out to the protest.

“We’ve clearly crossed the line of his constitutional authority,” Atkins said. “Without bringing people together and in very large numbers, we’re not going to be able to slow it down or reverse it.”

‘Protesting smarter, not harder’

The diffuse nature of the planned action on Saturday is reflective of a trend reported by the Crowd County Consortium, a project by the Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Connecticut that documents protests and other demonstrations around the country.

While crowd sizes at protests so far in 2025 may seem small compared to the masses of people that took to the streets for protests like the Women’s March in 2017, there are many more — thousands more — protests happening across the country this year.

People are “protesting smarter, not harder,” said Heather Hax, an academic who studies social movements and who is part of the Baltimore Rapid Response Network.

Hax said her sense is that people remain politically and civically engaged in the second Trump administration.

“People are calling their members of Congress, doing other kinds of actions that might not read as visible protest but are still a form of protest nonetheless,” rather than showing up for mass demonstrations, she said.

Even the growing activity in Los Angeles, protesting against ICE and Trump’s immigration policies, began as targeted demonstrations responding to immigration enforcement raids.

There’s a lot more energy and acute focus on protest over the last week, given what’s happened in Los Angeles, said Christopher England, a lecturer in the Department of History at Towson University.

In Baltimore, as many as 500 people marched through the streets protesting ICE in the eastern part of the city earlier this week.

Gov. Wes Moore said safety is his administration’s top priority this weekend, and said Maryland would protect the rights of people to protest and “uphold the law.”

“Over the weekend, thousands of Marylanders will gather to exercise their guaranteed and hard-fought-for First Amendment freedoms,” Moore said in a statement. “I swore an oath to protect these sacred rights both when I joined the United States Army and when I was sworn in as the 63rd Governor of Maryland. The ability to freely speak out and assemble is a cornerstone of American democracy – and one of our greatest heirlooms as a state and nation."