Anti-Trump protests will unfold across all three South Florida counties this weekend amid heightened nationwide unrest over the president’s deportation program.
The “No Kings” protests, planned to coincide with President Donald Trump’s birthday on Saturday, are expected to draw thousands of people in several locations from Miami to West Palm Beach. They come as the nation’s attention turns to Los Angeles, where ICE raids set off widespread pro-immigrant protests that blocked roads and led Trump to mobilize the National Guard and the Marines.
Saturday’s protests, unfolding nationwide, were planned a month prior to the events in L.A. to take place at the same time as Trump’s military parade in Washington D.C. The protests are expected to be peaceful and orderly, organizers say, but they have taken on new significance in the past few days.
Gov. Ron DeSantis alluded to the weekend protests at a news conference focused on “law and order” Tuesday while saying the events unfolding in L.A. would not take place in Florida.
“You see that what’s going on; we are not going to allow that to happen in Florida,” he said. “I know people are talking about, ‘Hey, there’s going to be demonstrations around the country.’ The line’s very clear. Everybody, every police department, every sheriff’s department, all state agencies know, the line is clear. Peacefully talking about what you want to do or what you want to see or having any type of those discussions is fine, but the minute that crosses the line, we are not going to just sit idly by and let the inmates run the asylum.”
In Palm Beach County, a caravan and march will head to Mar-a-Lago and then conclude with a rally at the Meyer Amphitheater in West Palm Beach.
Meanwhile, some South Florida residents are planning a pro-Trump boat parade in the Intracoastal from Jupiter Inlet to Mar-a-Lago, according to social media posts. This is an annual event on June 14, Trump’s birthday and Flag Day.
In Fort Lauderdale, over 1,000 are expected to gather on the beach near Sunrise Boulevard for the “No-Kings” event. Other caravans and protests will take place in Coral Springs, Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
Organizers are seeing a new fervor among participants following the Los Angeles news. In Fort Lauderdale, about 150 people registered in the last two days, according to Jennifer Jones, the organizer of the protest for Hope and Action Indivisible Broward.
“People are definitely very outraged at what’s happening in L.A. with the National Guard and now the Marines all being weaponized against American citizens,” Jones said. “I think that is driving more people to get out and show that opposition and just show that, even more so, we have to fight to save our democracy.”
At a sign-making event last week, Jones said several of people went for an immigration theme. Some read “without immigrants Trump would have no wives” and “ICE is for soda not for refugees.”
Martin Vidal, a co-organizer of the Palm Beach County protest, said that he anticipates at least as many people to come out on Saturday as on April 5, when about 10,000 people took to the streets across South Florida, with a couple thousand in West Palm Beach alone.
He currently has RSVPs coming in every few minutes.
“I think it’s raising awareness,” Vidal said of the news out of L.A.
Both Vidal and Jones emphasized that the protests they’re organizing for Saturday are expected to be structured and safe, planned in conjunction with local police. The organizers have trained “de-escalation teams” and police liaisons in case of counter-protests or any outbreaks of violence.
“If opposition comes or anyone who comes and tries to be violent saying they’re part of our group, we have a whole plan,” Jones said. “We’re not putting up with that.”
Residents may encounter some traffic in the cities where marches and caravans are underway, but organizers are also planning to make them as unobtrusive as possible, Vidal said.
“We’re on the side of all the citizenry here,” he said. “We’re not trying to annoy anyone or disrupt anything. Just trying to speak out against a government with a totalitarian bent.”
Here are some of the current rallies scheduled around South Florida:
- West Palm Beach, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Protesters will gather at Phipps Skate Park and march to Mar-a-Lago, then to a rally at Meyer Amphitheatre.
- Boca Raton, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: A car caravan will take off from the Fifth Avenue Shoppes at 2000 Federal Highway and end at Meyer Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach.
- Boca Raton, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.: Protesters will gather at Boca Raton City Hall at 201 W. Palmetto Park Road.
- Delray Beach, 9:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: A car caravan will take off from Delray Place parking lot and end at Meyer Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach.
- Boynton Beach, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: A car caravan will take off from Riverwalk Plaza Parking Lot at 1600 Federal Highway and end at Meyer Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach.
- Fort Lauderdale, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Protesters will gather at the beach near State Road A1A & East Sunrise Boulevard.
- Coral Springs, 9 a.m. to noon: Protesters will gather at West Sample Road and North University Drive.
- Miami, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Protesters will gather at the Torch of Friendship at 301 Biscayne Blvd.
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