Thousands of western Massachusetts residents rallied in the streets on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies, joining the nationwide “No Kings” movement against actions they called authoritarian. Many in attendance pointed to the administration’s recent immigration raids and Trump’s federalization of the military against protesters as key drivers for their attendance.

Demonstrations in Northampton, Springfield, Haydenville, Pittsfield, and several other local towns were among the 2,000-odd protests nationwide, timed to coincide with Flag Day, Trump’s 79th birthday, and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army that came with Trump’s unprecedented and controversial military parade in Washington, D.C.

In the Pioneer Valley, two of the day’s largest gatherings took place in Northampton and Springfield, where crowds quickly surpassed organizers’ turnout expectations. Despite persistent rain, a crowd of more than 1,000 protesters packed tightly into Northampton’s Pulaski Park in the morning.

An even larger crowd gathered outside the federal courthouse in downtown Springfield later in the day. Thousands of protesters lined both sides of State Street for blocks, chanting and waving signs as many passing cars honked in support. Both demonstrations remained peaceful and no obvious counter-protesters were present at either event.

Northampton

Organizers of the Northampton protest expected a crowd of about 900 to show up for the rainy Saturday morning demonstration, but that forecast was quickly exceeded. By its 10:30 a.m. start time, protesters carrying umbrellas and signs emblazoned with anti-Trump quips and demands for reform packed tightly into Pulaski Park, spilling over onto nearby sidewalks in some places. Demonstrators called out chants like, “Hey, ho, Donald Trump has got to go,” and “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.”

New crowd members continued to arrive up both sides of Main Street as youth activists, a local musical advocacy group known as the “Raging Grannies,” and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern addressed the assembly.

“This is what democracy looks like, my friends,” McGovern said, echoing a chant protesters repeated throughout the morning.

“We are a nation born in revolution, strengthened by protest and nurtured by dissent, and we are here because we love our country, and we say no to authoritarianism,” he told the crowd. “We say no to corruption and we say no to wannabe kings like Donald Trump.”

McGovern spoke against Trump’s significant budget cuts to public programs that provide services like food, health care, and information, his proposed tax cuts for billionaires and changes to health insurance programs, and Saturday’s military parade.

“It is not patriotic to throw yourself a birthday bash and use the U.S. military as props, it’s pathetic,” he said.

McGovern also condemned Trump’s federalization of military troops by ordering National Guard soldiers Los Angeles, where people were protesting federal immigration raids, calling the move “a gross and terrible abuse of power.”

Kathryn Masse, who traveled from further east in the state to attend the Northampton protest and carried a sign that read: “No sign is big enough to list the reasons I’m here,” agreed with McGovern.

“What they’re doing right now is fascism,” she said, referring to the Trump administration’s protest response in California. “We can’t have the military called on our own citizens.”

Masse said she chose to attend the Northampton event rather than another No Kings protest because of the community’s accepting nature and locals’ ability to be themselves. “Northampton is everything that encompasses America,” she said.

Olive Paradise, a 16-year-old youth activist and co-director of the Amherst Young Feminist Party, which co-organized the Northampton event, said she has hope for her generation and the world around us.

“We understand that fear is leading our government. Cowardice is the head of our Oval Office,” Paradise said. “I did not vote. I did not choose this, and yet this does not stop me from speaking out, from participating in democracy in any way possible, because democracy is still alive.”

Event organizers Alice Jenkins and Joey Pisani, who have worked together on advocacy-related causes for years, said it’s their natural inclination to rally the community together in times of uncertainty.

“We’re in an incredibly unique moment, but it also feels really familiar in a lot of ways, and people are looking for an outlet,” Pisani said. “They’re looking for a place to be in community with other people feeling the same uncertainty and fear that they’re feeling right now.”

Pisani — an 18-year-old student at Suffolk University — added that, in addition to being part of the nationwide day of protests, the Northampton demonstration was meant to provide that space for the community to unite.

“I think it’s really important that the youth show up and that we build a community around us and work towards a better future,” said Jenkins, who is 19 and currently studies at Syracuse University.

“We hope that people leave here feeling a little bit more hopeful about how much more power there is with the people, rather than the people in power in D.C.,” Pisani said. “Right now, the attacks from the Trump administration are meant to silence people. They’re meant to make people feel scared. People need to have courage in this moment — that’s the way we’ll win this collective fight.”

Springfield

Alyssa Arnell, who traveled from Chicopee to attend the Springfield protest, said that Trump’s militarized suppression of protests in Los Angeles — which she called a violation of states’ rights — was one of the main reasons she chose to join the demonstration.

“Patriotism is about constitutional protection, not loyalty to a tyrant,” Arnell said. She said she hopes the protests inspire members of Congress to intervene in Trump’s execution of his agenda.

The Springfield demonstration was organized by local advocacy groups including Indivisible Swing Left Western Mass, Rise Up Western MA Indivisible, Defending Democracy in Hampden County and Northampton Resists.

Speaking from the stairs of the courthouse, state Sen. Adam Gomez said the protests were about defending democracy and emphasized the importance of government accountability.

“We’re standing up for our rights, making sure our civil liberties are not diminished,” he said.

Gomez noted that ICE has detained individuals throughout Massachusetts, including in Springfield, and said “a fascist regime is imposing their will without due process, kidnapping individuals off the streets.”

Derek Wanzo attended the Springfield demonstration to represent the city’s LGBTQ+ youth-led organization Out Now. He said the protest’s size and location inspired a feeling of collective power.

“To have it right here at their doorstep, I feel like they can’t ignore it even if they wanted to ignore it,” he said, also nodding to ICE’s detention of individuals in Springfield.

While state Sen. Ed Markey marched alongside protesters in Boston on Saturday, he prepared a staff-read statement for the Springfield crowd. “Trump and Republicans want us to get tired, to give up and to go home,” it said. “They want us to be scared — well we have news for them. The people of Massachusetts have never bowed to Kings, not 250 years ago and not today.”

As Saturday’s protests came to a close, some participants said they hope to see ongoing demonstrations against Trump and his administration. “We should do this every weekend,” said one protester named Meg, who chose to identify herself using only her first name for fear of possible reprisal from the president.

As the crowd thinned and protesters departed for their cars at the end of the rally, chants of “No kings, no crowns, we will not bow down,” echoed across the streets of downtown Springfield.