Community Corner

2 No Kings Rallies Coming To Mercer Co. Saturday: Here’s What To Know

Thousands are expected to gather across two Mercer County events as part of a nationwide day of protest on Saturday.

Demonstrators march down Benjamin Franklin Parkway during the "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025, in Philadelphia.
Demonstrators march down Benjamin Franklin Parkway during the "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — Mercer County will host two rallies Saturday as part of a nationwide "No Kings" day of protest, with Gov. Mikie Sherrill and U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman among the scheduled speakers at a morning event in Princeton and a separate afternoon rally planned at the State House in Trenton.

The Princeton event, co-organized by Indivisible Princeton and the ACLU of New Jersey, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Monument Park in front of the George Washington statue at 1 Monument Drive. The Trenton rally, billed as "No Kings, No War with Iran," runs from noon to 3 p.m. at 125 W. State St. and is co-sponsored by the Coalition for Peace Action, among others. Together, the two events are part of 54 protests planned across New Jersey on Saturday.

Organizers expect thousands of Mercer County residents to turn out across both events. The rallies are part of a broader national mobilization that organizers say could draw 12 million participants nationwide — roughly 3.5% of the U.S. population — making it potentially the largest single-day protest in American history.

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At the Princeton rally, Sherrill is scheduled to speak at 10:05 a.m. following a welcome from host Lynda Dodd of Indivisible Princeton. Other speakers include state Sen. Andrew Zwicker, Ezra Rosenberg of the ACLU-NJ, Damon King of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Ana Paola Pazmiño of Resistencia en Acción, Jennifer Howard of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, and Drew Arnay of the Climate Revolution Action Network. Musical performances by Ken Fredeen and Sharleen Leahy are also scheduled throughout the program.

The Trenton rally will include speakers focused on opposing what organizers describe as a potential U.S. military conflict with Iran, with the Rev. Robert Moore, executive director of the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action, among those slated to speak.

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The No Kings movement has organized two previous rounds of national protests during President Trump's second term. An estimated 5 million people participated in June 2025, and approximately 7 million turned out at more than 2,700 events across all 50 states in October 2025. At that October mobilization, an estimated 5,000 people packed Princeton's Monument Park.

The rallies are framed around opposition to what organizers describe as authoritarianism, billionaire-favored economic policies and the militarization of democratic institutions. Organizers did not specify which federal policies the Princeton rally would directly address.

All No Kings events are organized around a shared commitment to nonviolent protest. Organizers say trained de-escalation leads will be present at each event, and the ACLU has held virtual safety trainings for participants ahead of Saturday's rallies.

The protests have drawn sharp criticism from Republican officials. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized participants as including what she described as "Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals." House Speaker Mike Johnson called the movement a "Hate America" rally in a Fox News interview.

The coalition behind No Kings nationally includes the American Federation of Teachers, Public Citizen, Indivisible, MoveOn and the American Civil Liberties Union.

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