It was a chilly Saturday afternoon in downtown Juneau, but that didn’t stop protesters like Kathleen Jorgensen from gathering. She said she refuses to accept the cold and wore a bright, flowery hat.
“It’s spring, and I don’t care what Mother Nature says — it is spring,” she said, laughing.
Jorgensen was one of more than 1,000 people gathered at Juneau’s Overstreet Park to participate in the third round of the ‘No Kings’ protest series held nationwide to push back against President Donald Trump’s policies and actions.
The protest series began following Trump’s return to office. The previous No Kings protest was held in October. This time around, it’s estimated that more than 3,000 events were held across the U.S., including in several Alaska communities.
Advocates say the protests are meant to push back against the Trump administration and the president’s actions, which resemble those of a monarch. Since the last protest in October, a lot has happened. The U.S. has launched military operations in Venezuela and Iran, and immigration enforcement has rapidly escalated nationwide.
For Jorgensen, she said it’s important to come together in protest and resist what she describes as increasing authoritarian actions by the president.
“The more times we come out, the more people that won’t be afraid to join us next time,” she said. “This is my third No Kings, and I will be at the fourth and the fifth and the 17th and the 23rd and 107th if that’s what it takes.”
A handful of speakers were invited to talk to the crowd, including Heidi Drygas, the executive director of the Alaska State Employees Association, the state’s largest public employee union. Drygas called on the crowd to push back against the Trump Administration’s actions that are negatively impacting Alaskans’ well-being.
“We must keep showing up. We must keep showing up every time, every time,” she said. “We cannot rest on our freedoms and our democracy. We must be the change that we want to see in this world.”
Trump has continually rejected the accusation that he is acting like a king and has scorned the protests. Despite that, demonstrators in Juneau stayed in the cold for about an hour, singing and chanting in unison.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that an updated count actually put the estimated number of protesters at more than 1,000, not 1,500.
