Organizers plan on Saturday’s No Kings rally to be Providence’s biggest protest yet

As organizers prepare for the third major iteration of Providence’s No Kings Day rally scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, organizers expect up to 50,000 Rhode Islanders to come out and protest on the State House lawn and throughout the capital city.

Providence’s first No Kings rally in June drew a crowd of around 3,000 to protest against the Trump administration. The second demonstration on the State House lawn in mid-October drew over 30,000, according to organizers, although that count was not verified independently.

“There’s a really good chance this could be a big one — we were very surprised with how many people we got the last time,” Jody McPhillips, an organizer for the Rhode Island Resistance Coalition, said in an interview. “And things certainly haven’t really improved since then.”

Organizers are encouraging attendees to not only show up but get organized. Community groups will be staffing tables with resources and opportunities to get involved, along with booths featuring local artists.

“It’s a little more like a festival,” McPhillips said. “We figured we may as well make the day a good one for people even though they’re doing something very serious.”

Plans by the national No Kings coalition for a third round of anti-Trump demonstrations had been in the works for months, with organizers announcing in January. That came in the wake of Renee Good and Alex Pretti being shot and killed by federal immigration officers during enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

Along with voicing discontent over Trump’s immigration agenda, demonstrations in Rhode Island intend to protest the U.S.’s escalating conflict with Iran along with the federal government’s cuts to social services and attacks on civil rights.

“The shamelessness with Trump and his administration acts are things we cannot tolerate and let stand,” said Robert Vitello, treasurer of the Newport Democratic City Committee. “This is opposition that’s vital.”

Vitello plans to join demonstrators in Providence after wrapping up the No Kings demonstration he’s helping organize in Middletown, which will run from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Two Mile Corner. As of Wednesday morning, he said 250 people have signed up to join the Aquidneck Island protest.

“For every signup we have it’s three to four people who actually show up,” he said. “We’re expecting at least 1,000 people here on Aquidneck Island.”

Much like they did during the October day of protest, the Newport Democratic committee is arranging bus transportation from Aquidneck Island to Rhode Island’s flagship rally outside the State House.

Providence’s rally will include a mass march through downtown before returning to the south side of the State House to hear from guest speakers that will include Secretary of State Gregg Amore.

Amore, a Democrat facing a lawsuit from the Trump administration for refusing to turn over the state’s full voter rolls, is expected to discuss federal efforts to restrict voting, his office confirmed Wednesday.

Also scheduled to speak is state Rep. Michelle McGaw, a Portsmouth Democrat who was part of a group of Rhode Island lawmakers that visited Minnesota in late January to call on federal immigration officers to leave the midwestern state. 

“Peoples’ civil liberties are being stripped away,” McGaw said in an interview. “That is concerning whether or not it happens next door or across the country.” 

McGaw said her overall message Saturday is for Rhode Islanders to be there for their neighbors.

“It’s important we know who our neighbours are, what their needs are,” she said.

McGaw plans to attend a separate No Kings Rally in Little Compton before speaking in Providence.

Union leaders Jonathan Jacobs of SEIU Local 401 and Autumn Guillotte of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO are also scheduled to speak at the rally. Guillotte, political director for the state’s chapter of the AFL-CIO, told Rhode Island Current her plan is to talk about the need for workers to band together in order to protect democracy. 

“We can’t be using the usual playbook because clearly it’s not working,” she said in an interview. “We need to go back to our roots within the labor movement and really agitate and get out on the streets.”