RICHMOND, IN — Hundreds of people descended on Jack Elstro Plaza and North A Street to protest the Trump administration as part of a nationwide movement on June 14.

The "No Kings Rally" in Richmond, organized by the recently reactivated Wayne County Indivisible, was held on the same day of President Donald Trump's birthday and a military parade to celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary in Washington D.C.

In Richmond, according to planner Donna Eisenhower, more than 500 attended the rally, which was coordinated with hundreds of other "No Kings" protests across the country to oppose Trump and several of his policies.

Protesters gather in support of Constitution

Zak McCreery said he attended because of his support of America and the U.S. Constitution.

"We should have a constitution that is respected, and nobody is above the law," he said. "We should make sure that a separation of powers is enforced and respected, because we should have no kings. Our nation was founded on the principles against which Donald Trump is standing very firmly on, like the detaining of people and shipping them overseas."

McCreery said the protest holds similarities to the list of grievances Americans made against the king of England in the 1700s.

"I know that our country is not perfect," he said. "I know that we have got a lot of problems that need to be solved, but we don't just give up and say, 'Well, democracy was a failure, so we might as well just revert to monarchy and elect the worst among us to lead us.'"

Counter-protesters react to rally, message

Dustin, who did not want to include his last name, did not participate in the counterprotest or attend the rally. But he did walk by the crowd wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat.

"I'm not even a Trump guy, to be quite honest," he said. "I'm trolling a little bit. But I think it's great. This is exactly what America's about. If it truly was a monarchy, a king, none of this would be happening."

Dustin said he comes from a North Korean family that escaped "true communism" and had family members die trying to leave the country.

"I think it's a lot of sour grapes," he said. "But they had their four years, and no Trump's got his four years. It is what it is and they're going to have to suck it up. All legit countries have laws and have borders and have immigration and customs. If anyone ever traveled to legit countries, Germany, Japan, South Korea, you would see that."

Amanda Owens, one of the counter-protesters, said she attended because she doesn't agree with anything the protest stood for.

"I highly support that if you are not coming here legally vetted, then you should be deported," she said. "We have no problem with migrants coming, as long as they are vetted correctly. All the other countries that have emptied out over here are now safer because they're here."

Owens also carried a sign in support of Israel. At the rally, at least one Palestinian flag was seen.

"America always stands with Israel," she said. "We are pro-Israel. We support Israel, and we always will. I am anti-Palestine. God bless America."

Owens said that during or time on the sidewalk protesting, everyone was peaceful. She said she was proud of both sides when a funeral procession drove through midway through the protest.

"When the funeral came through, we both shut up and let it go through," she said. "Even these gals here, we've been kind of debating, it didn't get heated."

There were no instances or reports of violent confrontations between protesters and counter-protesters. A large contingent of officers from the Richmond Police Department were present to keep the peace.

Signs objecting to Trump's polices widespread

Signs were abundant, related to everything from immigration to health care, parks to housing.

Cathy Guthrie, who held a sign to "Save the Parks," said national parks are seeing record attendance at a time Trump is cutting budgets and selling off properties and leases.

"It's land that we will never get back if he does that," she said. "We need to protect the Americans- rights to places to recreate. His idea of recreation is a golf course, and some of us enjoy nature, enjoy the beauty of America, and we want to pursue that."

Celeste Swanson, a local librarian, brought a pro-immigration sign, although she agreed with Guthrie in terms of education cuts.

"There are cuts to the State Library in Indiana, state education, federal education, and state libraries and federal library cuts as well. I'm just tired of it," she said. "I'm tired of all these cuts to our agencies that provide services to lower income children. We're taking food away from families. We're taking health care away from families, and now we are trying to detain people all over our country, and it's disgusting. We have no king, nor should we."

City councilman Bill Engle, who represents District 3 and is a Democrat, was also among one of the hundreds of protesters, holding up a sign featuring a caricature of Trump with the saying "No Crown for a Clown!"

"I just thought it was important that my voice be heard," he said. "I think there are a lot of people out there, me included, that feel very frustrated and that we do not have a voice at this time. If this is how we can voice our opinions, this is what I wanted to do."

Despite being vice chair of the county's Democratic Party, Engle agreed with many of the other protesters in saying that Saturday's rally was not partisan.

"You don't see any of these people either in meetings or being active with the party," he said. "It's an indivisible thing, and it's a lot of people that are not affiliated with either party, and that's a good thing."

Immigration, health care major talking points

One of the "gals" Owens referred to was Jade Rockwell, who held a sign that signified 500,000 undocumented immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who lost their legal status as the result of Trump's stance on immigration enforcement.

"They were granted that status because they were coming from countries where they were experiencing things like tyranny," Rockwell said. "What that means is that people who have been working in our communities had to stop working, and we lost people that we need in our community."

Some of those people, Rockwell said, were those she had personal connections with, including health-care workers at Reid Hospital.

"I know of a family that came that are farmers and are not super political people," she said. "The reason that they came to this country is because the father witnessed a state murder and had to leave the country to protect his family. Knowing some of these folks, nobody cares more about the values of this country than people who have experienced tyranny."

Others, including rally speaker Bob Hunter, brought up the topic of immigration.

"Does the president hate immigrants?" he asked the crowd, who responded yes. "Except the white ones coming from South Africa. Does he lie about criminal activities of the immigrants? Does he just grab people off the streets with no chance to be heard? I think we have concluded that he's trying to be a king, and that's not right at all."

Heather Davis, a nurse practitioner and veteran, spoke against Trump's policies related to veterans and health care.

"What Trump is doing is wrong for veterans," she said. "For Americans, our health-care system is a travesty. We cannot sustain it any longer. We need help, and taking away all this government assistance is not helping the American people. Giving tax cuts to the wealthy is not helping the American people. We need help, and we need to stop Trump."

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at .