Iran war sparks ‘No Kings’ street protests against Trump across U.S, Europe

The war in Iran waged by the coalition forces of the United States and Israel has led to resurgence of “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump in streets across U.S and Europe.

Large crowds protested on Saturday against the war in Iran and Trump.

Minnesota took centre stage, with thousands of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder to celebrate resistance to Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement.

Minnesota’s flagship event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner. He and other speakers praised the state’s people for taking to the streets over the winter in opposition to a surge of US Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.

Springsteen performed “Streets of Minneapolis”, the song he wrote in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents.

INDIA TODAY reported that Springsteen lamented Good and Pretti’s deaths but said the state’s pushback against ICE has given the rest of the country hope.

“Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America,” he said. “And this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities, will not stand.”

People rallied from New York City, with almost 8.5 million residents in a solidly blue state, to Driggs, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in eastern Idaho, a state Trump carried with 66% of the vote in 2024.

US organisers have estimated that the first two rounds of ‘No Kings‘ rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. This week they told reporters they expected 9 million participants on Saturday, though it was too early to tell whether those expectations were met.

Organisers said more than 3,100 events — 500 more than in October — were registered in all 50 states.

In Topeka, Kansas, a rally outside the Statehouse had people impersonating a frog king and Trump as a baby. Wendy Wyatt drove with “Cats Against Trump” sign from Lawrence, 20 miles (32 kilometres) to the east, and planned to drive back to her hometown for a later rally there.

Wyatt said “there are so many things” about the Trump administration that upset her, but “this is very hopeful to me.”

Demonstrations were also planned in more than a dozen other countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia, Ezra Levin, a co-executive director of Indivisible, a group spearheading the events, said in an interview.

In countries with constitutional monarchies, people call the protests “No Tyrants,” he said.

In Rome, thousands marched with defiant chants aimed at Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose conservative government saw its referendum for streamlining Italy’s judiciary fail badly this week amid criticism that it was a threat to the courts’ independence.

Protesters also waved banners protesting Israeli and US attacks on Iran, calling for “A world free from wars.”

In London, people protesting the war held banners with slogans such as “Stop the far right” and “Stand up to Racism.”

And in Paris, several hundred people, mostly Americans living in France, along with labour unions and human rights organisations, gathered at the Bastille.

“I protest all of Trump’s illegal, immoral, reckless, and feckless, endless wars,” rally organiser Ada Shen said.