BOISE (
Idaho Statesman
) — Thousands of Idahoans flocked to downtown Boise amid national “No Kings” protests Saturday against President Donald Trump and his administration.
Protesters filled the Capitol steps and lawn, and spilled onto nearby streets with anti-Trump signs and chants in the unforgiving heat. Attendees listened to about an hour of speeches from a number of different groups, including from Boise Tenants United and United Vision for Idaho.
“We gathered here today because something has gone very wrong,” said Adrienne Evans, executive director of United Vision for Idaho, a left-leaning organization.
RELATED | Local demonstration to show support for Donald Trump in counter to No Kings Day protest
“They said government was the problem, then they gutted it.” Speakers and attendees funneled frustration at the administration and hit on a number of party-line issues including trans rights, support for unions and Palestine. But there were also calls for working across party lines and coming together.
“We’re not here to protest, we’re here to build,” Evans said.
Protests were also planned in Nampa, Idaho Falls, Moscow, Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint, according to the No Kings website.
The national protests, widely expected to be the largest since Trump returned to office, come as Trump hosts a military-style parade in Washington D.C. to celebrate both the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, his 79th birthday and Flag Day — which all fall on June 14.
The military parade in D.C. is expected to cost between $25 million to $45 million, with over 6,000 soldiers, 49 aircraft, 128 vehicles, 25 horses, two mules and one dog, according to
NPR
.
The parade follows months of cuts to government budgets and contracts from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency that slashed funding for scientific research, international programs and the federal workforce.
RELATED | Multiple rallies to be held in eastern Idaho against upcoming military parade in D.C.
The cuts included over a dozen employees of the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs’ regional office
and medical center in Boise, employees of the
U.S. Forest Service
in Idaho and Americorps members at a Boise-area eviction- and homelessness-prevention
nonprofit
.
No Kings protests were scheduled in every state, several U.S. territories and dozens of countries abroad, including multiple places in Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Germany and France, according to the
No Kings website
.
Labeled as a “nationwide day of defiance,” No Kings come on the heels of protests in Los Angeles over Trump’s hard-line immigration policies. Trump has ordered the deployment of about 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in response to those protests, over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass.
Trump said the military was needed to quell unrest, while Newsom and Bass said that the military deployment — the first time Marines have been used for protests on U.S. soil since the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles — would only inflame tensions.
Minnesota lawmakers shot, killed before protests
The No Kings protest was canceled in Northeast Minneapolis following the murder of a Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, along with the shooting of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife on Saturday morning,
according to CNN
.
In a
news conference
, a visibly shaken Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said that it appeared to be a politically motivated assassination. Hortman, a former speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and Hoffman were members of the Democratic Party.
RELATED | Authorities still searching for suspect in shooting of 2 Minnesota state lawmakers
Hoffman and his wife were shot multiple times by the same individual that killed the Hortmans, but underwent surgery and are receiving care, according to Walz.
“We are cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt,” he said. Walz called for settling differences peacefully and to find common ground amid politically-charged times.
“We must all, in Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence,” Walz said.
