To Heidi Dragneff, the “No Kings” protests across Hampton Roads and the nation on Saturday weren’t really about politics.

“It’s about honor,” the Navy veteran said as she was about to march through Norfolk. “It’s about what we still believe in that oath, in that flag, in that promise we made to each other and future generations.”

For Angela Taylor, it was about patriotism. The 66-year-old cancer patient was one of many holding American flags at the protest in Chesapeake — she said she bought the last one in stock at a nearby Walgreens.

“Because I live here and I’m going to be here,” Taylor said of why she was holding the flag. “And if anybody needs to leave, it’s him.”

Taylor said that her forebearers labored in slavery “not because they wanted to, but they labored and built (the country). And so we live here, and we’re here to stay.”

Though Taylor has late-stage cancer, “with every breath that’s in me, I’m going to cooperate and do what I can do while I can because I can.”

They were among the thousands who attended a series of protests against the policies of the Trump administration Saturday, as part of the nationwide “No Kings” events. Coinciding with Flag Day, the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official U.S. flag, and the Army’s 250th anniversary, organizers say the protest is in response to President Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington.

The attendance met or exceeded organizers’ estimates in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Yorktown and Virginia Beach, and perhaps the largest crowd of the day was expected Saturday evening in Williamsburg.

Organizers had urged attendees to be peaceful, and there were no reports of arrests as of Saturday afternoon. Gov. Glenn Youngkin had said he would deploy the Virginia National Guard ahead of the protests, but there was no public sign of them at the early events.

In Norfolk, organizers had said they expected as many as 750 to join a march from Jeff Robertson Park to Smartmouth Brewery. By the end, the crowd was almost twice that.

The group’s camaraderie spilled into the sidewalks, as families, friends and neighbors marched along Hampton Boulevard. For more than a half-hour, the crowd was met with honks of support from passing cars, along with the occasional middle finger or an obscenity.

As protestors arrived at the brewery, more chants emanated, including “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.” Along with anger, there was happiness. Bubbles flew. Attendees embraced. Miniature tamborines being passed around jangled into music.

Rick Wilson was one of the protestors at the end of the march still carrying an American flag. Wilson said he is in a military reserve and has studied authoritarianism in Germany, and said Trump’s actions such as federalizing the National Guard against people demonstrating their rights have concerning parallels to previous regimes.

“It scares the hell out of me,” Wilson said. “That’s one step toward autocracy, toward dictatorship.”

In Chesapeake, about 400 people lined the four corners of the busy intersection of Battlefield Boulevard and Volvo Parkway. They didn’t have one single issue that they were fighting, but talked about everything from Trump’s aggressive deportation program, executive orders unchecked by Congress, budget cuts and the “Big Beautiful Bill,” among many others.

Charles Anderson, 72, who worked for the Navy’s supervisor of shipbuilding office in Newport News, was another carrying an American flag, one that his mother gave him in the 1970s. Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, Anderson choked up talking about how his father — a World War II veteran — would always salute the American flag during parades. His mother was the “Americanism chairman” for the American Legion, and would teach schoolchildren about how to properly display the flag.

“I wish the Congress would stand up to him,” Anderson said. “They could stop him doing this stuff, but they won’t stand up to him. They’re just rolling over to whatever he wants done.”

Aaron Burke, 35, who teaches Spanish at St. Patrick Catholic School in Norfolk, said he’s concerned about his wife’s immigration status. While she’s a green card holder who has been here since age 14, he said, she’s reluctant to go home to her native El Salvador. While her green card was renewed in 2023, it was only renewed electronically, and she never got a new paper version.

“We no longer feel safe with her leaving the country,” Burke said.

An even larger crowd than Chesapeake — numbering at least 1,000 — lined the corners of Virginia Beach and Independence boulevards in Virginia Beach. It was a festive atmosphere, with cars honking in support.

Mary Clem, 26, of Virginia Beach, said she came out “to make sure that everybody has equal rights.”

Having a rally with so many like-minded people, she said, is inspirational.

“Our flag represents our country and what we were founded on,” Clem said. “Why they wanted to get away from England and all of that.”

Jamal Jones, one of the event’s organizers, said the event was “a good time,” with only a few medical problems caused by the heat, and no serious injuries. Organizers walked around at 4 p.m. to say that the permit time was expiring.

“We had a good turnout,” Jones said. “The Virginia Beach Police were pretty excited that everything went smoothly. They said thank you for keeping everything peaceful.”

Organizers of the “No Kings” protest at the Yorktown Victory Monument had said attendance was capped at 250. About 400 showed up.

Protesters recited an abbreviated version of Langston Hughes’ 1935 poem “Let America be America Again.” Others also delivered speeches of their own, celebrating the freedom gained at Yorktown in 1781 while condemning Trump.

“We see what’s going on, and we just couldn’t hold back any longer,” attendee Heidi Nelson said. “I never go out for anything like this, but we’ve just been compelled to come out to speak up for those without a voice and exercise our rights while we still have them.”

Kathy Batzel, 62, a volunteer at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, said she went to the Virginia Beach event in part over concern about budgetary cuts to cancer research.

“How does that make sense?” she asked. “All the the research funding, all the things he’s doing to the universities, taking out their grants.”
Organizers were passing out small American flags, and Batzel took one.

“I mean we love America,” she said. “We just don’t like what Trump’s doing to America.”