About 2,000 people gathered at Gainesville’s Cora Roberson Park on Saturday to protest the Trump administration. The protest was part of No Kings demonstrations planned across the country — the third since the series began June 14, 2025, and the first of this year.
The Washington Post reported over 3,300 rallies in all 50 states.
The protest began around 11 a.m. at Depot Park. Hundreds of people gathered in the heat with signs reading phrases like, “Stop the war on Iran” and “Gators chomp ICE.” Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation led chants and passed out water and food to attendees.
“Trump, Trump, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide,” the crowd chanted.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation, along with other organizations such as 50501 Gainesville and UF’s chapter of Students for Socialism, planned the event. It aimed to protest the Trump administration, its decisions to attack Iran and the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Mariah McGovern, a 34-year-old Gainesville resident and member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
“We are having to sit here and worry about the price of groceries or the price of gas while ultra-rich corporations take all of our money,” McGovern said. “Then the government uses our taxes to do things like enact violence in the Middle East and let ICE in our streets.”
Nationwide, the price of gas is now $3.98 per gallon, a $1 increase from the average last month, according to the AAA Fuel Prices report. The climbing price is tied to the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.
Fellow protestor Victoria Gomez De La Torre, a 65-year-old immigrant and Gainesville resident, has been an activist since the Reagan administration. She said Gainesville has its own unique subculture, where the issues affecting its residents reflect broader trends nationwide.
“People in this country do not realize how we’re sliding down into autocracy, into dictatorship, because this country has never lived through a dictatorship,” Torre said. “I come from South America. I know what it looks like, and we’re exactly going into that direction.”
Barbara Stein, a Panama City resident, and Lane Curington, a Tallahassee resident, graduated from UF around 50 years ago. They returned to Gainesville for their husbands’ 100th anniversary of their fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, and decided to take part in the protest.
“I don’t like the way Trump runs America,” Curington, 72, said. “I don’t like that he’s not diplomatic. I don’t like the way he talks down to people. I don’t like a lot of his policies.”
Stein, 70, said she disagrees with almost everything Trump has done, and she disapproves of the country’s actions in the Middle East.
“I hate that we made the mistake bombing the school, and we killed children,” she said, referencing the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Iran.
At 11:30 a.m., organizers in bright yellow vests guided the crowd onto Southwest Depot Avenue, starting a nearly one-mile march to Cora Roberson Park. Protesters crowded half of the road, chanting as they slowly made their way down the street.
The leaders of the march held up banners reading, “U.S. out of the Middle East” and “Stop the war on Iran.”
Honks sounded as cars passed by, and almost a dozen police officers monitored the scene.
Gerald Herr, a 67-year-old Gainesville resident, stood in a small group on the side of the street, holding a sign and watching the scene unfold. This is his second No Kings protest, he said.
Herr said the progression of the U.S., and his perception of Americans, changed with Trump’s presidency. He said he describes Trump as “a dictatorial, macho president who doesn’t seem to care about the country or the history of the people.”
When the crowd arrived at Cora Roberson Park, they were greeted by hundreds of other protesters. Organizations like the Sierra Club, Pride Community Center, Democratic Women’s Club and Alachua County Democratic Party set up tents and tables in a semicircle.
Several marchers lined both sides of Southwest Sixth Street, waving signs and cheering at cars passing by. Drummers hit their instruments as they walked up and down the road. Cars honked and passengers filmed the protest as they passed.
Others entered the park and gathered around a stage to listen to speakers and a local folk-rock band, Weeds of Eden. Those who didn’t bring lawn chairs stood by, walked around or took a seat on the grass.
A slight breeze blew in clusters of pollen from nearby trees, and speakers warned attendees of the rash-inducing, furry caterpillars taking over the area.
Still, people stayed in the heat with their sunglasses and hats —chatting, cheering and dancing with other attendees.
Karen Mentz, a 47-year-old Gainesville resident, withstood the heat in a peach costume. She bought the costume online and ironed on letters spelling, “Impeach, convict.” She said her main concerns with the Trump administration are the Epstein files, the war in the Middle East and affordability.
This was Mentz’s third No Kings protest. With an estimate of 1,500 to 2,000 people in attendance, Saturday’s event might have been Gainesville’s largest No Kings protest to date, according to previous Alligator reporting.
“I am so pleased with how many more people there are,” she said. “People are really starting to wake up to what’s going on.”
Friends Adriana Koralewski, 18, Emma Barton, 18, and Aubree Suarez, 16, are first-time protesters. Koralewski has always wanted to come to a protest to take part in change, and this is the first time she’s been able to attend since becoming a legal adult, she said.
“We all wanted to do it for a while, and we knew that we didn’t want to come alone,” Koralewski said. “So, now we’re a little protest group, and we’re going to keep coming to do this as much as we can.”
Kelly Cannon, a 57-year-old Gainesville resident, stood with her husband, Tim, holding an umbrella with a variety of phrases written on it, including “We are watching you Congress,” “Abolish ICE” and “Release the files.” The umbrella is transparent and has an opening to slip sheets of paper into it, allowing the phrases to be changed out as new issues arise between protests.
“I love our country, and I hate where it is right now,” Cannon said. “This administration has basically taken us into facism, and we oppose that. We’re very worried about the future of our country and our world under this kind of leadership.”
Contact Vanessa Norris at vnorris@alligator.org. Follow her on X @vanessajnorris.
