Denver’s Latest No Kings Protest Breaks Recent Records

More than 10,000 protesters showed up for the latest No Kings protest on Saturday, March 28, making it one of the largest demonstrations in Denver since President Donald Trump returned to office.

Denver protest organizers expected more than 70,000 people to demonstrate across Colorado. The Colorado State Patrol estimated that about 10,000 people rallied at the State Capitol Building in Denver, with the Denver Police Department reporting nine arrests in connection to the demonstrations as protesters clashed with law enforcement.

“They’re so delusional in the Trump cabinet,” military veteran Frank Ohrtman said during the protest. “People are suffering because of this war in Iran, not just abroad but with high costs here, but taco, Trump always chickens out! Let’s hope he does here.”

A Bernie Sanders rally with 30,000 people last March and a No Kings protest last October were likely the biggest protests in Denver in 2025; some estimates for the October action went as high as 25,000, although the Colorado State Patrol estimated about 8,000 people. In January, the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, activists with Colorado ties who were killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis, sparked large protests in Denver and a weekend of marches, strikes and vigils.

No Kings, the national grassroots organization, reported that more than 3,300 events took place across the United States on March 28; the group estimates 8 million people participated nationally. While organizers were planning for the largest protest in American history, it fell short of the 1970 Earth Day protest that gathered 20 million. Still, groups like MoveOn are claiming that this latest No Kings demonstration hit the mark as the country’s largest protest.

More than a dozen events were planned in the greater Denver area, from Boulder to Littleton and Aurora to Golden. Thousands are estimated to have turnout out for protests in cities across the state, including upwards of 4,000 in Longmont, more than 2,500 in Grand Junction and 15,000 people in Fort Collins, according to media reports. Even small communities, like Windsor Gardens, a senior living area near Lowry, had healthy turnouts.

Larry and Cynthia Gallegos, two Colorado Democrats, joined fifty or so seniors who rallied at 9 a.m. near East Alameda Avenue and Clinton Street.

“Anything we can do to show we don’t support the current administration,” Larry Gallegos said. “We have roots in Minnesota, so we’re very in tuned with what’s going on. After watching the excesses in Minnesota, I can’t see them spread that throughout the United States.”

At the State Capitol in Denver, thousands of protesters crowded around the west steps to hear speakers, and also visited the “activists hub” across the street, which had music and free food, merchandise and information — as well as wafts of cannabis smoke in the air.

“The country’s headed in the wrong direction under Trump,” said Manuel Orge, while relaxing in the shade of a statue at Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park. “He’s insane, I honestly believe that. …Keep the pressure on them. Let them know that we’re going to vote, that all these people are going to vote.”

At the side of the Colorado Supreme Court building, just across East 13th Avenue from the activist hub, protesters supporting science and medical workers in white lab coats showed up by the dozens, some with stethoscopes around their necks.

The Colorado Bridge Trolls blared a mix of music that went from heavy metal to Shakira and had people dancing under bubbles blown by nearby kids. Bubbles were everywhere, along with protesters dressed like frogs, patriots and a purple T-Rex that must’ve walked ten miles in the warm afternoon.

On the other side of Lincoln, people were applauding speeches by members of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, service workers union SIEU Local 105 and Flobots, who invited people to come up and sing songs of resistance. Speakers heard cheers for lines like “Free Palestine” and “No one is illegal on stolen land.”

The first march left the Capitol a little after 1 p.m., with hundreds of people marching up Broadway and then down 20th Street to Blake Street, then returning to the Capitol via 15th Street. The march was led by Indigenous dancers, with drummers, a chant and the burning of incense. Protesters marched with signs calling for “No War in Iran” and “Abolish ICE,” and carried an array of flags including those for Palestine, Cuba and Mexico.

The first protest session didn’t see any violence, but smaller actions continued to break out through the afternoon. At around 2:35 p.m., a small group of protesters clashed with police as they tried to keep them from entering the highway. Denver police reported using gas and shooting pepperballs at the ground to disperse protesters, but the DPD said it did not use teargas. Eight people were arrested during the confrontation, and one more person was arrested in a separate incident for throwing an object at an officer, according to the DPD.

See more photos of the March 28 No Kings protest in Denver below.