Hundreds gather, College Democrats speak at Montgomery No Kings protest

Hundreds gathered in downtown Montgomery to stand against the Trump administration as part of the nationwide No Kings protests on Saturday. 

Hunter Boozer photo

Protestors demonstrate on the streets of Montgomery

The protest was held by the Alabama Resisters of Indivisible and the Montgomery 50501 Freedom Fighters. According to Haley Morgan, a member of the College Democrats of Troy University and one of the speakers at the Montgomery gathering for No Kings, the protest showed the community’s resistance to Donald Trump’s current presidency. 

“No Kings itself is that we don’t want a king – we don’t want the silly little oligarchy that’s going on,” Morgan said. “Also, we want to bring our community together to know that we’re not alone, we can work together to make change and there are people actively working to make change.” 

The organizers claim the protest brought out 743 people to protest but believe the true number to be higher. According to nokings.org, the official page for the organization of the protests, seven million people came out to the thousands of protests both nationally and internationally. 

When asked about the event, Caitlyn Harris, the president of Turning Point USA at Troy University, said while she respects the right of the No Kings participants to protest and express their opinion, she finds the message to be misplaced. 

“It’s ironic to accuse President Trump of acting like a ‘king’ when his actions have consistently shown leadership focused on service to the American people, not power,” Harris said. “The fact that people are free to protest him at all shows how far we are from the kind of rule they’re claiming to oppose.” 

The protest began at Riverfront Park and moved to the downtown fountain, where participants began speeches. Protesters came out with flags, costumes and signs critizing Trump and his allies. 

One criticism \protesters had about the Trump administration was the perceived censorship of dissenting voices, which in the eyes of Scott Johnson, a protester at the event, violated the First Amendment. 

“I think it’s important to speak out when you see things that are immoral, illegal, against the spirit of the Constitution,” Johnson said. “The freedom of speech is the most important aspect of the Bill of Rights, and I think it’s important to let your voice be heard.” 

Oct. 18th’s No Kings protests were the second wave of protests by the organization. The first, which occurred on June 14 of this year, was estimated to have around four million participants at over 2,000 events.