Editor’s Note: Grace Chaves, The Point’s opinion editor, was interviewed for this article.
A “No Kings” movement, a protest to those who act as “kings” in the United States, was held in downtown San Diego, uniting thousands of San Diegans. The crowd included Point Loma Nazarene University students who said the protest felt like a community coming together.
According to the No Kings website, the movement was started in June of 2025. The first protests occurred on June 14, the same day as President Donald Trump’s scheduled U.S. Army Grand Military parade.
On Oct. 18 at 10 a.m., San Diego residents gathered at Waterfront Park to begin the protest with a rally. The rally consisted of multiple speakers, including Patricia Velasquez, a union activist, District 4 County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe and Allison Gill, a Navy veteran and award-winning podcaster.
The speakers spoke on immigration issues and the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants in the U.S. The rally ended with protesters chanting, “No kings.” Montgomery Steppe spoke about the equality every immigrant should have when coming to the U.S.
“Every single person in this country deserves the same quality of life and the same opportunity,” Montgomery Steppe said during the rally.
Gill emphasized the need for action to be taken against the Trump administration.
“He [President Trump] is weak, and he is scared and we can beat him,” Gill said.
Protesters were reminded by the rally host that the movement is a peaceful protest and does not condone violence. The host explained to the crowd that if there were antagonizers, everyone should walk away. The protest then started with participants flooding the streets of downtown. Bystandards stood in apartment windows and on cruise ship decks, waving and honking from cars.
One participant, Barbara Christensen, has attended two other similar protests over the past year, including the first “No Kings” protest in San Diego on June 14. She said her motivation for going was to create unity.
“To be united with other San Diegans and raising our voices that we will not be silent — silenced as Trump tries to become a dictator,” Christensen said.
Christensen heard about the protest through an email list created by Indivisible, a group that promotes organized campaigns like protests, founded in response to President Trump’s reelection. Christensen, like many other participants, brought a homemade sign that said “Hands Off Dump Trump.”
An anonymous protestor, who requested anonymity due to their job occupation, also went to the first protest in June, as well as another in Ramona, Calif. They said that this protest was full of love.
“Everyone was there — was getting along,” they said. “It didn’t seem like the anger came from a place of hatred. It came from a place of love, like everyone who was out there was out there, you know, marching and chanting and smiling because they care for whatever it is that motivated them, whether it be for themselves, their country, their families, strangers, friends — the whole thing just felt like a lot of love and acceptance.”
The protestor said having two kids, specifically a daughter, was their motivation to go. They said they wanted to be on the right side of history for their kids.
“The things that this administration has done, slowly stripping away rights for women and LGBT and you know, immigrants — it’s not a world that I want my kids to live in,” they said. “And so I go to hopefully make change for them, and to show them that if you don’t like something, that you have a voice and you can always stand up.”
Grace Chaves, a third-year multimedia journalism major at PLNU, also attended the protest on Saturday afternoon, as well as the original protest in June. She said that this one held a lot of creativity.
“Some were in like, inflatable costumes,” Chaves said. “Honestly, it was really fun, and I wasn’t necessarily expecting that for a protest. … There were a lot more, like creative signs that I saw.”
Chaves said that this protest showed how the San Diego community is being affected.
“There was a kid,” Chaves said. “He must have been about like 12 or 13, and he started some of the chanting, which I thought was cool. There are also some older people holding signs. Some of the signs were like, ‘Yeah, I may be old, but I’m still going to raise my voice.’”
Sydney Brammer 
Olivia Roberts