Thousands march in Durham No Kings protest to condemn Trump over Iran war

Thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Durham and rallied in Central Park on Saturday for the nation’s third No Kings Day, reinvigorated by anger over the Iran war and the rising cost of gasoline and groceries.

Opposition to the Trump administration’s use of military force in Iran and Venezuela and threats against Cuba and Greenland dominated the protest, which lasted around three hours and blocked off traffic in downtown Durham for much of the morning.

Dale Herman, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War as a hospital corpsman, led the crowd in Central Park in a chant of “No more war!” after recounting the pain of watching his fellow service members die violent deaths far from home.

“There are the costs of lives in combat, and there are the costs of moral injury,” Herman said. “After I came home from Vietnam, I suppressed what I had seen in Vietnam. And when the U.S. invaded Iraq, the memories all came back.”

Durham resident Gian Bass, decked out in red, white and blue from head to toe, said Herman’s speech most resonated with him as someone with family members and friends in the armed forces.

“I just don’t want to see anyone sent over to go fight a war if it’s not self-defense or in defense of an ally,” Bass said. “While I’m no fan of the Ayatollah, I’m also not a fan of unilaterally deciding to start bombing people.”

Retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Richard Anderson, 80, said in an interview that his experience in Vietnam was also what led him to join the No Kings protest this weekend.

“I’m absolutely against what Trump has been doing in Venezuela and what he may do in Cuba,” Anderson. “I lose sleep worrying about what he could do. He doesn’t seem to care about what’s going on in the United States, but his military adventurism is awful.”

A new arrival in Durham, Anderson said he plans to head to the local Democratic Party headquarters to see how he can help in the November elections. “I would hope that we never get in any more wars, period.”

Activists at the protest were hoping others would be prompted to action, too. Julie Warwick, a member of nonpartisan voter turnout group Bull City Votes, said she found new volunteers willing to drive voters to the polls or to take them to get registered.

Despite the gravity of the issues at the center of the protest, demonstrators tried to keep it colorful and joyous, as the previous No Kings demonstrations have been. Many protesters wore brightly colored costumes, like inflatable frogs or Bass’ American flag hat and cape, while others played music and danced in the park.

Jenny Hubert, who bought a drum at a thrift shop to bang on as she marched, said it was her first time playing one in public. “It regulates the nervous system,” she said. “The drum is a bigger voice than my voice.”

“I am here because I believe in freedom, I believe in democracy, and I want to turn the crown upside down,” she said. “I don’t believe that there should be people on this earth who are better than other people, who deserve more rights than other people.”

The No Kings protest in Durham focused heavily on labor as well. Lead organizers, hoping to translate the protest’s energy into economic consequences, urged protesters to participate in a May 1 general strike. Those calls were echoed by organizers in Chicago and South Carolina.

But protesters told NC Newsline they’re pessimistic about the prospect of a general strike in light of the high cost of living and most people’s lack of financial security.

“Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck and really just trucking along,” Bass said. “Taking a couple of days or a week or even two weeks off of work is just not possible for a lot of us without losing our livelihoods.”

Even so, Rev. Ryan Brown, co-founder of North Carolina’s Amazon union campaign, warned in the rally’s closing speech that consolidated corporate power would be deadly for democracy if not resisted. “As data centers and AI expands, the same question remains: Who is this system really built for?” he asked.

Brown likened Trump to the biblical Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ordered his subjects to bow to a 90-foot golden statue.

“Did our ancestors fight so hard for us to bow now? No, they didn’t. No kings, now today or forever,” Brown said. “We will not bow to power. We will not bow to fear. We will not bow to injustice. We will not bow because power belongs to the people.”

No Kings organizers said 76 protests were planned across North Carolina Saturday from Sylva to Kitty Hawk.