Thousands of people are expected to gather for a “No Kings” protest in Chicago’s Grant Park on Saturday afternoon.
The demonstration, which will be followed by a march, is organized by the Hands Off Chicago Coalition, which is comprised of many different local campaign and advocacy groups.
It is the second protest organized as part of the “No Kings” movement in the Chicago area, and the third major protest in downtown Chicago since President Trump’s second term began in January.
The first “No Kings” Chicago protest was held in June in Daley Plaza and drew tens of thousands of demonstrators. Saturday’s protest has been moved to Grant Park, a larger area that can accommodate more people.
Streets around Grant Park will likely be impacted, and rolling street closures should be expected for anyone traveling downtown, especially once the march begins.
The weather Saturday is forecast to be rainy and gloomy, with chances of stronger thunderstorms, but organizers said the rally and march will go ahead rain or shine.
There are additional “No Kings” protests planned in most Chicago suburbs as well.
Periods of rain and thunderstorms are possible on Saturday, but organizers of the No Kings protest said it will go on rain or shine.
No Kings protest organizers say “we’re going to stand our ground”
At Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio in the Portage Park neighborhood, owner Cheryl Knecht offered up her space for families to make posters ahead of Saturday’s protest.
“I also understand that a lot of kids have questions about what’s going on,” she said.
Parents and their kids put pens to posters on Friday, taking a stand against the current state of politics with a side of pizza.
“We’re going to stand our ground. What better words to live by than the great words of Tom Petty?” said Alison Anselmo as she made a poster with the lyrics “I will stand my ground, and I won’t back down.”
Anselmo said she wants to attend the No Kings protest to set an example for her kids.
“I think it’s one thing to talk about values, but it’s another thing to live them,” she said.
In June, an estimated 75,000 people packed into Daley Plaza for a No Kings rally, billed as a nationwide day of defiance.
Several grassroots organizations, including Indivisible Chicago, were coordinating the Chicago event on Saturday, and said 2,500 similar protests are being planned across the country.
“I think it’s just really pushing back and and doing so, you know, within our rights to protest,” said Indivisible Chicago organizer Laura Tanner.
In recent months, immigration enforcement has escalated in Chicago. The Department of Homeland Security said, so far, its Operation Midway Blitz has netted 1,500 arrests since it began in early September.
“I think that that’s why our march isn’t simply a No Kings Day march, it’s also a Hands Off Chicago march.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has a different view of the nationwide protests.
“We refer to it by its more accurate description, the Hate America rally,” he said.
Knecht said she hopes this slice of community building will paint a clear picture for kids.
“It’s really important for kids to see, and I think it makes them feel safe as well, that everybody’s working together to make our city better, to make our city safe,” she said.
Protest takes on new tenor during “Operation Midway Blitz”
The June “No Kings” protest and 50501 protest in April that also drew tens of thousands to Daley Plaza both were organized to oppose Trump administration policies on social security, Medicaid cuts, immigration, taxes and more.
But since the June protest, Chicago has become a focus of the Trump administration, particularly for immigration enforcement. The administration launched “Operation Midway Blitz” at the beginning of September, mobilizing hundreds of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other federal agents onto the streets of the Chicago area to detain as many undocumented immigrants as possible.
The Department of Homeland Security said “Operation Midway Blitz” has so far netted 1,500 arrests, though not all of them come from Illinois and it’s not clear how many people arrested remain in detention or in line for deportation. It has also sparked protests, most notably outside the Broadview ICE processing facility in the suburbs west of Chicago.
Confrontations between federal agents and residents have grown increasingly tense. ICE agents shot and killed an undocumented immigrant from Mexico in Franklin Park in September, and federal agents shot a woman in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood in October after several drivers boxed in their vehicles, claiming she rammed their car.
Federal agents were seen on video throwing a tear gas canister at people on a busy street in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood on a Friday afternoon near an elementary school.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling has expressed concern about the use of tear gas affecting his officers, who respond to clashes to help with crowd control and do not have the appropriate equipment for such measures. Thursday a federal judge ordered all immigration agents to wear body cameras on duty after raising concerns about escalating tactics and the use of tear gas.
Amid all this, President Trump tried to deploy the National Guard to Illinois claiming that federal immigration agents and facilities were under attack by protesters and needed the guard’s protection. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking deployment of the guard last week, and a federal appeals court affirmed that decision Thursday.
The TRO is in place for two weeks before parties are due back in court to see if it will be extended.
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