GoKawiilis a reporter who writes about law, technology, speech, and democracy. A journalist trained as a lawyer, she has been writing about tech for 10 years.
“I was hoping we were going to have a bigger crowd than this, especially with the nice weather and everything,” Michael Maria told me. “I’m a little disappointed because the last march, I think there were about 10 times as many people at this time of day.”
At 11AM, the crowd at Portland’s downtown waterfront appeared thinner than it had during the last No Kings protest in October. Some of this was to be expected. In the autumn of 2025, Portland had been at the center of the storm. President Donald Trump had called the city “war-ravaged.” He had signed an executive order targeting “antifa,” and had attempted to send the National Guard into Portland to protect ICE from antifa terror cells. A video of a Portland protester in an inflatable frog costume being attacked by DHS law enforcement had gone viral; the Portland frog subsequently became a national symbol of resistance.
But the spotlight has long since moved on from Portland, a midsize metro that was always a strange and unlikely target. And as the feds invaded Minneapolis, the national mood shifted dramatically. The deranged spectacle of Homeland Security fighting prancing unicorns in Portland had been replaced by videos of Minnesotans being shot and killed.
In Portland, last year’s No Kings protests had struck somewhat of a celebratory note. But the following winter had been long and dark and full of terrors — the occupation of Minneapolis, the military action in Venezuela, an illegal war in Iran. There was every reason to think there would be, cumulatively, a big national turnout. But there were also reasons to think protesters would not show up in force in downtown Portland.
In late January, a daytime labor march passing by the ICE facility in Portland resulted in the mass tear-gassing of peaceful, unsuspecting civilians, including children. In early March, a federal judge issued an injunction limiting the use of force — including tear gas and mortar launchers — on protesters outside the building. In a separate case brought by the beleaguered residents of a nearby apartment building, a second judge also enjoined the use of tear gas and other crowd control munitions.
But just a few days before the No Kings protests, an appeals court stayed both rulings, effectively giving the green light to once again gas protesters. The three-judge panel included two Trump appointees; the decision was 2-1, with the Trump judges ruling in favor of Trump.
Perversely, the growing dissatisfaction with the administration also meant that suburbanites were less likely to drive into the city to join the downtown march, since their own local protest was already drawing thousands of people. Estimated thousands showed up in the ritzy suburb of Lake Oswego. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) chose to attend protests in Gresham and The Dalles, outlying satellites of Portland that lean more conservative.
Maria said that friends who had come with him to previous No Kings protests in Portland had instead opted to join protests in suburbs like Beaverton, having heard rumors of an imminent crackdown in Portland proper. “They were a bit nervous about this,” he said.
But Maria’s worries about the turnout were ultimately for nothing. By noon, as people marched from other neighborhoods to the downtown waterfront, crowds thronged the riverbanks where the cherry trees were in full bloom. The Burnside Bridge was packed with people; just north, over the sparkling water of the Willamette River, the Steel Bridge was also thick with Portlanders chanting and carrying signs. Crowds waited patiently on the banks to march the two-mile route that crossed from the west side of the city to the east and back again. An estimated 30,000 people turned out on the streets of downtown Portland. Organizers estimated that 8 million people protested nationwide.
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