‘People are angry’: Thousands turn out across Maine to protest Trump

Across Maine and coast-to-coast, people took to the streets on Saturday for a day of action condemning the actions of President Donald Trump, who spent the day celebrating his 79th birthday with a multi-million dollar military parade in Washington, D.C..

More than three dozen “No Kings” events were organized across the state, in small towns and big cities, where thousands turned out to march. 

Starting the day in York, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree handed out red roses to marchers. 

“People are angry, they want to know what to do, want to do something, they want to fight back,” she said. 

Eighty-eight year old Roberta Herschberg, who said she spent every summer of her life in York, joked about her age, saying, “Personally I’ve been fighting kings since 1775.”

Lyman resident Craig Carscallen was among the crowd lining Main Street in Kennebunk. He said he hopes the widespread protests “influences our elected officials, if they want to get reelected”. 

An estimated 3,000 people rallied outside the State House in Augusta, according to the Press Herald, and in Portland, another 3,000 rallied in Monument Square and Lincoln Park.

Protesters rallied at more than 1,500 sites across the country as of mid-afternoon, according to No Kings national organizers. Many focused on the Trump administration’s aggressive expansion of immigration raids and enforcement, including the deployment of troops to Los Angeles in defiance of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

The day of action was colored by the killing of a Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker and her husband, who were assassinated in their home in an “act of political violence,” according to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.