Historic 'No Kingd' Rally in Mountain View, CA Today

4 days ago 2

From Palo Alto to Sunnyvale, tens of thousands showed up along a 7 mile stretch of El Camino Real on Saturday afternoon to protest President Donald Trump on the same day he staged a military parade in Washington D.C.

The “No Kings” demonstration, reportedly held across more than 2,000 cities, was part of a national-day-of-action on June 14 that called for people to reject what it described as the authoritarianism and corruption of Trump. The day also coincided with Trump’s 79th birthday and Flag Day, a holiday that celebrates the adoption of the American flag.

Waving handmade signs and American flags, protesters expressed their opposition to Trump with messages like, “Save democracy,” “No Kings!” and “Hate won’t make America great.”

The “7x7k” No Kings event was aiming for 7,000 people to line the sidewalks of El Camino Real from Arastradero Road in Palo Alto, continuing through Los Altos and Mountain View, to Remington Drive in Sunnyvale.

But it blew past this number with protesters standing nearly shoulder-to-shoulder for most of the 7-mile stretch on El Camino Real.

The turnout was likely closer to 20,000 to 22,000 people, according to Sally Lieber, an event organizer and longtime community activist.

One popular segment, from Castro Street to Grant Street on El Camino Real in Mountain View, reportedly had about 2,000 hand-counted people, according to a safety volunteer.

A Mountain View police officer, parked in a vehicle on Hope Street, remarked that he had not seen a demonstration of this size before in the area.

The demonstration drew regulars who have been attending protests in the Bay Area since Trump took office in January. But it also attracted a lot of newcomers, according to IdaRose Sylvester, an event organizer and co-founder of Together We Will Palo Alto Mountain View, a political action network.

“They said they were scared but came anyway and now have hope and do not feel so alone,” Sylvester said.

Richard Hagan, a Palo Alto resident and Vietnam veteran, said it was easy to attend the event since it was being held right outside his home and was accessible, given his mobility issues using a wheelchair.

“Trump wants to be a monarch but that’s not how democracy works,” Hagan said. “That isn’t why we have equal branches of government,” he added, explaining his reasons for participating in the rally.

Liesel Czymontek, a Mountain View resident and college student, said that she and her family showed up on a whim about 30 minutes before the event started. “I’m not the most educated about a lot of the issues,” Czymontek said. “But I’m Japanese American and there has been a history of incarceration, like what is happening with other groups today… It’s important we speak out.”

The message resonated with the aim of the rally, which was for people to have the opportunity to come out and make themselves visible, Lieber said.

The demonstration also remained peaceful, even against the backdrop of the use of military force in other parts of the country to quell protests, like in Los Angeles.

Sylvester pointed out that Saturday’s rally differed from demonstrations held earlier in the year, like the People’s March and Hands Off demonstrations.

“Back then, our focus was fighting for specific issues, women’s rights, immigrant rights, health care. This time, we’ve generally focused more on daylighting the attacks on democracy at a very core level,” Sylvester said in an email.

“Now we have the government bringing in the National Guard and our military to use our nation’s defenses against its very own people. The gravitas of the moment, the seriousness of what we are fighting for, and what we are potentially facing when doing so, is at an entirely different level,” she said.