By Laura Dinsdale
No kings day was a global event that took place for a second time this year. The first one was on June 14th, 2025 but was brought back for a second time on October 18th, 2025. According to San Francisco Chronicle the reason it was brought back was to further protest Donald Trump’s administration and immigration crackdown. Many of these protests took place locally, all across the bay area.
The bay area held many no kings protests, more than 160,000 protesters showed up for the Bay’s protests. Every city held protests from oakland, to berkeley, benicia, walnut creek, ect. An article from ‘the press democrat’ says that it was the largest local protest since Trump took the presidency in January. This is just one example of a large protest and these types of protests were happening in all the Bay’s cities.
Many age groups went to protests all over the bay area. The age range expands from a 3-year old girl holding a poster that says “no kings… only princesses.” to a 62 year old man wearing a Captain America costume to spread awareness as a native american superhero. Meaning at these protests the ages weren’t limited and the variety of people was very diverse for a protest. Although many were different ages, everyone still stood up to fight against Trump.
A very popular place where the protests took place was San Francisco. Possibly the largest protest the city has ever had with 50,000 people marching the city according to ‘san francisco chronicle’. A resident from the city says “I’ve been on a lot of marches,” he said. “But this was the most amazing one.” The majority of people at the San Francisco protests said the environment was very powerful and demanded change.
Oakland was a place where a big protest was held. According to ABC 7 news thousands of people marched into Wilma Chen Plaza. Almost everyone had creative signs, wore colorful colors and costumes, and chanted with power against what trumps been doing. Administrators were laughing and having fun with how people were protesting, but through smiles people reiterated their concerns for their rights and willpower.
More local to our benicia panthers and parents is the protests that happened in Vallejo. Over a thousand marched through Vallejo in the second no king’s protest. A band, labeled on stage as the “Social Justice Chorus,” sang between speakers with refrains mocking ICE agents and calling to “get stronger in our fight.” Vallejo citizens marched due to the president’s agenda built on racism, authoritarianism, and corruption.
The way people protested was very unique and unlike many other protests. According to ABC 7 news people dressed in inflatables of dinosaurs, bears, and a marshmallow man. Many people brought their kids’ dogs to protest alongside them. A citizen of San Francisco even went to the protest nude, only wearing a MAGA hat and dark letters saying “trump” on his butt. The bay area’s odd ways of protesting draws attention to their unique ways making the Bay’s protests gain more attention.
What we got out of the protests and the takeaways from it were overall good. Many voices were heard and fought for the rights of many citizens. Trump’s policies were protested, spreading awareness about what he’s doing and possibly informing other citizens of each town. The bay area came together to go against trump and the numbers of protesters were like no other. The day was for democrats to speak for what they thought was right.
Although many thought the protests were going to be violent and riot-like, the protests actually turned out to be very peaceful. BBC news says the protests were like a carnival not a carnage. How Trump reacted to these videos was the craziest of all, he made AI videos of himself dumping human waste on the protesters and in all handled the situation unlike a president should ever be.
beniciapaw.com 