Live Updates: Protesters Flood Houston in No Kings Rally

No Kings events are taking place across the country on Saturday, with thousands gathering to show their support in downtown Houston and at similar events across the region. These protests are a response to what No Kings organizers claim is overreach by President Donald Trump and opposition to "authoritarian" leadership.

Saturday's events follow large No Kings protests that took place on June 14, which was Trump's birthday and the day of a large military parade in Washington, D.C. A peaceful demonstration that day brought out an estimated 15,000 people to downtown Houston. Three events are taking place in downtown Houston on Saturday afternoon, while other gatherings are occurring in communities such as The Woodlands, Katy, Fort Bend, Pearland, Clear Lake and Pasadena.

Half-mile-long march turns heads in downtown Houston

The line of protesters in downtown Houston was about a half-mile long as it made its way down McKinney Street, before looping around San Jacinto and heading back to City Hall. Chants of "hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go" filled the air, as curious onlookers filmed the marchers from the sidewalk and from downtown balconies.

The noise was at its highest on San Jacinto Street, between Walker and McKinney. There, in the echo chamber created by the block-wide skywalk connecting two office buildings, chants turned to guttural screams as protesters let out months' worth of anger and frustration.

Thousands of Katy protesters, some in costumes, get honks from passing cars

At I-10 and West Green in Katy, the crowd of over 3,000 drew varied responses from passing vehicles, though the approving honks far outnumbered the handful of more hostile revved up motors, said Shelley Williams of Indivisible Katy, one of the event organizers. People of all ages donned dinosaur, unicorn and superman costumes as part of the movement's symbolic gesture of peaceful protest.

There were also many first-time protesters of all ages. "It's non-violent, its non-partisan, it's not about red or blue, and it's about unity and compassion," Williams said. "It's about taking care of each other and about standing up for what's right."

Protesters depart city hall as group of 1,000+ starts downtown march

After a two-hour long rally at Houston City Hall, the plaza emptied out as No Kings protesters took to McKinney and Walker streets to begin the second march of the day. Organizers urged protesters to walk slowly and remain peaceful. The crowd, still more than a thousand strong, chanted denouncements of Texas politicians including Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Ken Paxton as they prepared to march around Houston's downtown.

The march was slated to go down McKinney Street and loop around at San Jacinto, before concluding back at City Hall. It was expected to take about an hour, an organizer said.

Father brings kids to protest to see democracy in action

Despite 90-degree temperatures, the crowd was still thousands strong as protesters prepared to march through downtown Houston. Across the street at the historic Julia Ideson Building next to the Houston Public Library, Adolfo Vasquez took the opportunity to sit in the air conditioning with his two young children, aged 9 and 11, for a few minutes before the march set off.

Vasquez, 58, attended the previous No Kings protest in June but left the kids at home the first time, unsure of whether it would be a suitable environment for children. But seeing how peaceful the first iteration of the protest was, he felt it was important for them to see democracy in action. "I wanted them to get a little piece of it, since they don't understand what's going on," Vasquez said.

'We are angry'

Some young protesters in the crowd said they were drawn to the No Kings rally to condemn the erosion of protections for transgender people under the Trump administration. "I shouldn't have to be up here. I shouldn't have to be fighting for my health care, for my rights, for my freedom," Alister Graham Ivy Williamson, 16 and who identifies as a transgender male, said to the crowd outside City Hall.

Williamson denounced Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for signing legislation that bars him from using the boys' restroom at his school, which is a public building. "It shouldn't be up to others, to the courts, to that stupid man in the White House to decide my health care," he said.

Atlas, also 16, and a first-time protester who only gave a first name, attended the rally to push back against the Trump administration's "attack on immigrant rights and trans rights." "I just want the government to know that we are angry," Atlas said, "and that what is happening is totally not okay."

See photos from Houston's No Kings protests

Here's a look at the No Kings protests in Houston, as captured by Houston Chronicle staff photographers.

Jasmine Crockett at City Hall

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, told the crowd outside City Hall to fight against a sense of "hopelessness" by continuing to protest and by turning out to vote for Democrats in the midterm elections. "If you continue to allow them to let you feel hopeless, they will win," Crockett said. "We are bigger, bolder and badder than the bull---- that's coming out of D.C."

"You need to keep rising," Crockett said. "When we get to these midterms, there's going to be a real chain on his power, so do not stop after today." The crowd chanted "Jasmine! Jasmine!" as the congresswoman exited the stage.

The view of veterans

Scattered among the crowd were several U.S. military veterans who said they came to protest because the Trump administration did not reflect the values of the country that had signed up to defend. James Bobal, 42, wore a veteran's baseball cap with patches bearing the names of the places in Afghanistan and Iraq where he had been deployed as in the wake of 9/11 - Kabul, Bagram and Fallujah.

A heavy weapons machine gunner in the infantry, Bobal said his battalion was handpicked by President George W. Bush to protect polling places during Afghanistan's first democratic election. Now, he was dismayed to see what he felt was the crumbling of America's democracy and was determined to fight back against it. "I sat there with my 50-caliber machine gun and protected ballot boxes so they could vote, right?" Bobal said. "So, I'll be damned if I'm gonna watch that get stripped away here and we end up like the Taliban. I will be damned."

Nearby, Daniel Aboytegamez, a veteran of the Marine Corps and U.S. Army, painted the sigil of the U.S. Marines in yellow sidewalk chalk near the entrance to Hermann Square. Aboytegamez, 30, said that his time in the military taught him to fight tyrants, not support them. "I need to be out here stepping up as an example for other veterans to remember damn oath," Aboytegamez said. "We were taught how to be a good person, how to be a good warrior, how to be a good killer, and how to be a good patriot. None of those involve bending the knee to a king. None of those involve humiliating and torturing civilians."

• Sam Kelly

UH students in hunger strike

A representative from The University of Houston's Students for Justice in Palestine group announced at the protest they had begun a hunger strike on Wednesday. The student advocacy group is demanding that the university divest from any organization tied to Israel. The group asked protestors to sign a petition to help convince university leaders to withdraw funding and support to companies like Lockheed Martin.

"(UH administrators) won't meet with their starving students," a student representative said. "They won't meet with anybody, and we need your support because they don't give a s---."

A musical spoof

Outside City Hall, singer Mark Tiller led the crowd in a gleefully partisan spoof of the 2011 Gotye hit "Somebody That I Used to Know," replacing the chorus with "Now it's just some country that we used to know." "Now and then I think about our Constitution," he sang, drawing laughs and groans.

'On the right side of history'

Chris McConnell, a veteran and self-described conservative, cited Donald Trump's attempts to defund Medicaid and his "politicizing the military" as among his reasons for attending the No Kings protest. McConnell also condemned Trump's recent convening of military generals at Quantico, Va. "All those men have more important things to do," he said. "Right now, there's a domestic terrorist sitting in the most powerful office in the country."

He said many of his veteran friends approved of Trump's objectives, but disagreed with his means of achieving them by "trampling on the Constitution, weaponizing the FBI." McConnell waved a large, light blue flag with a peace sign on it, in commemoration of his late stepfather, who he said always preached "love thy neighbor, no matter what color, race or creed." He added: "I wanted my dad to know I'm on the right side of history."

Marchers arrive at City Hall

The marchers arrived at City Hall just after 1 p.m., about an hour before the second protest was slated to begin. The plaza at Hermann Square in front of City Hall was already beginning to fill to capacity about 1:15 p.m., with at least 1,000 people present. The rally remained peaceful, with police officers patrolling the perimeter and volunteer safety marshals dispersed throughout the crowd.

There was no sign of any counter-protests or National Guard troops, despite warnings from Gov. Greg Abbott that guard members may be deployed to No Kings protests across the state.

More than 1,000 protest in Cypress

More than a thousand people lined the frontage roads at Farm-to-Market 1960 and U.S. 290 in the far northwest corner of the Houston suburbs. The Cypress crowd waved their "No Kings" signs, American flags and a "Y'all means all" rainbow banner. Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson characterized No Kings protests as "hate America" rallies. So a member of the editorial board asked attendees in Cypress a simple question: Do you hate America? Here's what they said.

-The Editorial Board

Frogs, raccoons and leopards, oh my

Numerous protesters wore costumes of animals such as frogs, raccoons and leopards at Saturday's No Kings protest in downtown Houston. The trend follows a viral video of protestors wearing an inflatable frog costume at an ICE facility in Oregon went viral.

For 59-year-old Jon Hill, who was wearing a raccoon costume Saturday afternoon, wearing the outfit represents the "the unity with other No Kings protests happening across rhetorical nation." "I believe the visual representation of a peaceful protest is very important," Hill said. "The costume shows that."

Numerous protestors were dressed in inflatable animal costumes, including those of sharks, frogs, unicorns, dinosaurs and chickens. Several women wore red cloaks and white bonnets, a reference to Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." One protestor was even dressed as Jesus.

HCSO dedicated to public safety at Houston protest

On X, Captain David Jasper of the Harris County Sheriff's Office said the department was mindful of protesters' First Amendment rights for peaceful demonstration as well as their safety. "The HCSO, alongside our regional law enforcement partners, remains neutral and dedicated to public safety during today's 'No Kings' protests," Jasper said.

Protesters call to 'release the files'

Among the slate of anti-Trump chants were calls for the federal government to release the files of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Protesters shouted: "Release the files!" and "Epstein files!"

Hundreds march toward Houston City Hall

The march kicked off about 12:45 p.m., with hundreds of protesters making their way west down McKinney Street to City Hall, where the second protest of the day was slated to begin about 2 p.m. Holding signs with slogans like "No kings in America," protesters loudly marched down the street chanting "This is what democracy looks like!"

Protest feels 'more organized and more confident,' participants say

Houston resident Doug Welsh, who attended the previous No Kings protest in the spring, said this time around seemed "more organized and more confident." Since the spring, "the situation has only gotten worse," Welsh said, adding that it felt "more urgent" to protest now. "We just want to feel like there's something we can do to fight back."

Welsh protested alongside Mitch Pengra, and both were dressed in head-to-toe rainbow colors in support of the LGBTQ community, they said. Pengra's white beard was striped pink and blue. "There are no kings, and we are sick and tired of Donald Trump," Pengra said, adding that he is particularly concerned about the Trump administration's attempts to cut healthcare subsidies. "He's got to go."

Multiple events sharing the Discovery Green space

With limited space at Discovery Green, which was also playing host to an LGBTQ pride parade event and a Nigerian heritage festival on Saturday, the hundreds of demonstrators at the No Kings protest peacefully made their way onto the streets surrounding the park, chanting "Whose streets? Our streets." Houston police officials said they did not have an estimate of exactly how many people turned out to the first of two protests planned in downtown on Saturday.

A safety marshal at the event said that 1,700 people registered for the event online.

HPD stationed at perimeter of Discovery Green event

Hundreds gathered at Discovery Green just before noon on Saturday, holding homemade signs and wearing shirts with anti-Trump messages, as they waited for the No Kings march to begin. Houston Police Department patrol cars were stationed around the perimeter.

Woodlands event 'A peaceful family affair'

More than a thousand people showed up to The Woodlands' protest, the community's first No Kings event. They started showing up early for what had become a peaceful family affair for many, said Lynne Walters, one of the event's organizers. They brought their children, they brought their dogs and everyone, Walters said. Everyone had a different story that brought them there, she said.

"Whether they lost their Medicaid or are worried about Medicare or about whether their daughters won't be able to determine their own health choices…they're celebrating that we're all the same. It's amazing, gratifying, heartening and encouraging," said Walters.

'What do you think?'

With that in mind, the Houston Chronicle wants to know your thoughts on today's protest. Among the topics of concern are mass deportations; cuts to health care, environmental protections and education; and "rigging voting maps to silence voters."

What, if anything, do you think protests can achieve?

Please share your thoughts. We'll run a selection of them.