Thousands fill Nashville park for peaceful ‘No Kings’ protest in shadow of Tennessee Capitol

Thousands of people flocked to Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park for a “No Kings” protest Saturday despite gloomy skies, clutching signs decrying Donald Trump and his administration, denouncing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and advocating for due process.

The crowd quickly exceeded the capacity of the park’s amphitheater in view of the Tennessee State Capitol and spilled out over much of the park’s grass field. Ultimately, swaths of protesters young and old lined the sidewalks of Rosa L. Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street near the park, chanting to drivers honking their horns as they drove by.

Chants of “This is what democracy looks like” and “USA, no Trump, no KKK, no racists” filled the park as people carrying signs and American flags made their way toward the streets.

The protest was organized by Indivisible Nashville, a group that supports progressive policies and resists what it calls “the Trump agenda” under the umbrella of Indivisible Tennessee. 

The event was one of thousands planned across the country as part of the “No Kings Day of Defiance,” scheduled to roughly coincide with a military parade in Washington, D.C. marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary. The controversial military parade also falls on Flag Day and President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. In Tennessee, a total of 24 cities planned to participate.

The Nashville demonstration was peaceful, with some attendees playing music and dancing in the park. Volunteers wearing neon vests directed protesters to stay out of the streets and handed out water bottles to combat the humid weather.

A handful of counter-protesters, some wearing holsters, walked among the demonstrators with their own signs. One man yelled, “Donald Trump is y’all’s president too,” as he walked against the flow of the crowd. Another man near him held a sign that read, “Kamala LOST, Trump WON, JESUS is KING.”

Metro Nashville police arrested one masked counter-protester carrying a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag after people reported that he pulled what appeared to be a handgun out of its holster. 

State leaders spoke of love, hope, determination

Tennessee state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, was among the speakers who kicked off the event. He nodded to the Army’s 250th anniversary and Flag Day.

“Flag Day is not a day for ceremonial gift wrapping for the President’s birthday. It’s not something that you put on a politician’s lapel while they vote to take away healthcare to give billionaires tax cuts … It’s not just about celebrating the flag; it’s about figuring out what it means, what it stands for,” Yarbro said. 

“And this group, we’re here today for the flag that 250 years ago fought against tyranny, took on and took down slavery, for the flag that liberated Europe from Nazis, for the flag that for generations, has been used to demand that we live up to our highest ideals and not our basest, lowest instinct,” he said.

Luis Mata, a former Democratic candidate who unsuccessfully ran for a Tennessee House of Representatives seat representing Smyrna, spoke as part of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, recalling his childhood growing up without legal immigration status in Tennessee before he became a U.S. citizen.

“This meant living in a different kind of reality, a reality where our entire being was used to fuel an unpopular anti-immigrant agenda trickling from the White House to our state legislature, and right now, immigrants are being used as pawns in a broader attack on our democracy, with those in power putting themselves above the law, erasing due process, disappearing our neighbors, and silencing anybody who dares to speak up,” Mata said.

He told a cheering crowd in the amphitheater that “social movements are born out of pain, but they are sustained through love.”

“Right now it is dark, and right now it is scary, but one thing that they forget is that we are the recipients of generations of organizers who refused to lose hope … who showed us that the strongest movements are fueled by the hopes of everyday working-class people, the courage to resist and the … unwavering commitment to a long-term vision that demands us showing up each and every day, organizing each and every day, election cycle after election cycle, legislative session after legislative session,” Mata said.

Before protesters made their way to the sidewalks lining the streets, a representative from Indivisible Nashville delivered a call to action: “Call your senators and tell them to kill this big bogus bill, and denounce ICE,” a reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The budget reconciliation bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives but remains under Senate consideration.

On the outskirts of the park an hour later, Cathy Corley and Heather Argo stood together on a grassy hill overlooking the park and the state capitol building. 

Corley, wearing an “I stand with Ukraine” T-shirt and a glittery Uncle Sam-style hat, said seeing what is happening in the country is painful. 

“It is wonderful to be with like-minded people, and see that there is hope,” she said of Saturday’s protest.

Argo came from Franklin to join Corley at Bicentennial Park, though she questions if protests truly lead to change.  While people continue protesting, she said, President Donald Trump “keeps keeping on.”

“What can we honestly do to make a change?” Argo asked. “I don’t think anybody has an answer for that.”

She said people can vote in a year and a half at midterm elections, but noted how much could happen in that timespan. 

“It scares me,” Argo said.