Thousands of anti-Trump protesters demonstrate at the corner of Manchester and Weidman roads in west St. Louis County during a “No Kings” protest, one of many held nationwide on Saturday, June 14, 2025. The protesters rallied for democratic rule and against what they see as authoritarian actions under President Donald Trump.

ST. LOUIS — Thousands gathered on Saturday at a dozen sites across the St. Louis area to protest the policies and actions of President Donald Trump, matching rallies planned in cities across the country.

By noon, at least 1,000 protesters stretched for more than a mile along Manchester Road in west St. Louis County, holding signs and shouting. Hundreds filled the town square in Belleville, cars honking their encouragement. Another 1,000 or so stood along South Lindbergh Boulevard at Baptist Church Road in Sappington.

And by Thursday afternoon, thousands were marching from Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis, west on Market Street and north on Tucker Boulevard. The gathering was so big, police shut down roads as it passed. Missouri State Highway Patrol cars were staged in front of the city jail.

At one point, the stream of protesters filled the northbound lanes of Tucker from Market to Washington Avenue.

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Gail Wamser, 81, of Brentwood, and Christine Brooks, 64, of St. Louis, sat outside 1010 Market Street as the march went by.

Neither had really protested in the past. But both said they are worried now about an erosion of rights for immigrants, women and gay people.

“To be silent is to agree with the fascists,” Brooks said.

The rallies, dubbed “No Kings” protests, follow days of nationwide demonstrations against federal immigration raids, including in Los Angeles, where Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The protests were timed to match the military parade on Saturday in Washington commemorating the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army, on Trump’s 79th birthday. The event was expected to include about 6,600 soldiers, 50 helicopters and 60-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks, as well as possibly 200,000 attendees and heightened security to match.

While most demonstrations nationally have been peaceful, others have led to clashes with police, arrests and the use of chemical irritants to disperse crowds.

Raids in the LA area triggered days of turbulent protests across the city. Protesters there blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

The Trump administration said immigration raids and deportations will continue regardless.

‘I just can’t sit by any longer’

Kenneth Andrews, a social scientist at Washington University in St. Louis who studies protests, social movements and political participation, said the protesters may yet get their message across.

“Social movements are one of the most important ways that regular people are able to collectively put an issue on the agenda,” Andrews said.

He said that seeing large crowds of people in dozens of cities beyond St. Louis engaging in No Kings rallies “has a particular kind of cultural power,” that can’t be captured in public opinion polls.

In St. Louis, the rallies mark an escalation of unrest against Trump. Protests over the last few months had been called against cuts made by his Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire carmaker Elon Musk, and, to a lesser extent, against immigration detentions.

Just Wednesday, a few hundred turned out at two demonstrations here against Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. About 200 gathered on the Tamm Avenue bridge over Interstate 64 on the southern edge of Forest Park. Another 200 showed up in Aloe Plaza near Union Station downtown, then marched down nearby streets with a police escort.

But the demonstrations Saturday were by far the most in a single day against Trump in St. Louis this year, and are already the largest in turnout.

Locally, protests were scheduled in Alton, Belleville, Granite City and O’Fallon in Illinois, plus Clayton, Farmington, Sappington, St. Peters, Union, west St. Louis County near Ballwin, and Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis, in Missouri.

Rallies were also set across the bi-state region, including in Cape Girardeau, Carbondale and Hermann.

In Clayton, more than 60 seniors, some in wheelchairs and walkers, lined the sidewalk outside of a senior living complex on Saturday, across the street from the Shaw Park pickleball courts.

“We are old! We are smart!” they chanted. “And so we know Trump has no heart!”

Barbara Finch, 87, who lives at the complex, organized the Clayton event and named it “Seniors for Sanity.”

“We think the whole Trump presidency is nuts,” she said. “He doesn’t know how to govern. He thrives on chaos.”

National Guard activated

People waved and cheered from honking vehicles with signs and flags as they drove by protesters on Lindbergh. Peace signs — and the occasional middle finger — reached through moon roofs.

Donna Kienstra, 52, from Oakville, said the synergy between drivers and protesters was like a parade.

“I’ve broke out in goosebumps 100 times today,” she said.

Laura Reisa, 68, of Swansea, was at the Belleville protest.

She said she felt compelled to act due to concerns about the state of the country. She called Trump’s actions attacks on democracy.

“I just can’t sit by any longer and do nothing,” she said.

Vicki Malinee, 60, of St. Charles, was in St. Peters with about 100 others. She had seen comments online from people claiming the crowd there had been paid to show up and weren’t real protesters.

“As I look around, I can tell you these are real folks who live here,” Malinee said in between the honks of passing cars. “They’re not paid protesters. They’re people who care.”

John Foley, 75, of Ellisville, was at the West County protest, holding a sign that said “Despots need not apply.”

He said he is on Social Security, and is scared Trump will cut it. He called the Trump administration “repressive.”

“I sat out a lot of the 60s when I shouldn’t have,” Foley said. “I won’t sit by this time.”

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on Thursday activated the Missouri National Guard in case this weekend’s demonstrations turned violent.

But by later afternoon, few police — outside of the downtown St. Louis march — were at the events. There were no reported incidents. And the guardsmen, if present, were not visible.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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