PHOTOS: Thousands protest in downtown Orlando for 'No Kings' as rallies rage nationwide

(Photo by Asa Carvajal)

ORLANDO | Thousands gathered in front of City Hall in downtown Orlando March 28 in the Florida heat to participate in the third round of nationwide “No Kings” protests.

In addition to the demonstration outside of City Hall, more were reported across Central Florida and Tampa Bay. Hundreds took place statewide.

Protestors say that they were rallying against President Donald Trump’s policies, heightened tensions regarding immigration enforcement around the country and the threat of a possible ICE detention center in Central Florida.

Some participants, like Mary Carrico, have participated in all three of the nationwide protests. Carrico says she wouldn’t have missed it for the world because she is against everything that Trump is for.

“I am a naturalized citizen,” Carrico says. “I am Italian, and I know my parents fought for democracy and they raged against the regime, and so I’m doing it in their name, and my kids and my grandkids’ names.”

Protestor Blair Martlaro, sporting a tie-dyed face mask and holding a sign that read “Trump is Putin’s Useful Idiot,” expressed her opposition to the war in Iran.

“What he’s doing there is sending gas prices through the roof, which is very helpful to prolonging Putin’s war against Ukraine,” Martlaro says. “I want that man out of office, and I want people to know in Orlando that the overwhelming majority of us don’t agree with what’s going on in our country and the world.”

The protest began with a prayer by Obsidian Tiburón, two-spirit Indigenous Taino advocate.

After the prayer, they introduced Orlando’s chapter of the Brown Berets, a historic Chicano paramilitary organization.

The Brown Berets spoke of their movement and said it is rooted in unity and the truth. They say that until the government acknowledges that the people being detained and sometimes even killed by ICE are indigenous to this land, they will continue to be treated like outsiders in their own homeland.

This was followed by Ericka Gomez-Tejeda from the Immigrants are Welcome Coalition, who opened her speech with a chant. The first thing she said when she stood on the steps of City Hall was “Show me what democracy looks like!”

Protestors yelled “This is what democracy looks like!” in response.

“I can speak to you not just as an immigrant, but as a human being,” Gomez-Tejeda says. “I have never met parents who don’t want better for their children, I have never met a child who didn’t believe in equality, and I am filled with hope because you are here today.”

Many participants got creative, crafting large signs and caricatures of Trump. One protestor, artist Stella P. Arbelaez, crafted a giant puppet of the president sporting a prison uniform.

Protestor Todd Dufour, donning an inflatable skeleton unicorn suit, said he made his cardboard Trump at his farm in Florida. The cardboard cut-out references South Park’s caricature of the president in its 27th season. Dufour says that as an artist, he thinks that something as silly as cardboard and glue can invoke much-needed political discussion.

“We’ve been satirizing our politicians forever because they need to be brought down a notch from time to time,” Dufour says. “They’re human beings. They put pants on one leg at a time, and all of them need to be knocked down a bit from time to time.”

Mary Ann Horne made her sign, which read “respect my existence or expect my resistance,” a year ago, when she already felt that the American government was not hearing minorities like the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants. She says that making those communities heard is what “No Kings” is all about.

“We are Americans,” Horne said. “We need to determine the direction of our country, and what is happening in our country right now is fascism. If people don’t see it, I think they might not be paying attention.”

Watermark Out News attended the protest and you can view our photos below.

Photos by Asa Carvajal.