Demonstrators assembled in cities and towns across America Saturday for what “No Kings” organizers predicted would be the largest mass protests against government policies since the beginning of the second Trump administration.

The organizers, a loose coalition of activist groups, labor unions and others, said frustration over an aggressive immigration crackdown, politically motivated prosecutions and other policies had been expected to drive turnout well above the estimated 5 million people who took part in a previous wave of No Kings protests in June.

No authoritative count of Saturday’s actual turnout was available but estimates in the tens of thousands were reported from numerous major cities, including Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Miami. Events were held in about 2,600 cities and towns across the country.

Despite warnings of potential violence that prompted authorities in Texas and other state to deploy National Guard and other security forces around protest sites, the events unfolded peacefully in what the Associated Press said “looked more like a street party.”

The news agency, with reporters at many of the events, described “marching bands, a huge banner with the U.S. Constitution’s “We The People,” preamble that people could sign, and protesters in frog costumes, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.”

Among the earliest events was a 10 am rally at Atlanta, hosted by the ACLU of Georgia, Indivisible Georgia Coalition and “partners from across the pro-democracy and pro-worker movement,” according to an organizer website. The organizers cast their rally as a stand against the “chaos, corruption, and cruelty” of a president who “thinks his rule is absolute.”

At New York City, the main event at Father Duffy Square at 47th Street and Broadway drew a large crowd that clogged Times Square and surrounding streets, with satellite events scattered among the five boroughs.

In a late morning posting on X, the New York Police Department said its officers “will be out across the city to make sure everyone can peacefully and safely exercise their first amendment right. As a reminder, there will be zero tolerance for any illegal activity or anyone who breaks the law.”

The carnival atmosphere was evident at Washington, D.C., where costumed demonstrators, some with dogs, carried U.S. flags, balloons, and signs as they marched toward the Capitol.

At Rehoboth, Delaware, costumed protesters marched along a highway in inflatable chicken, bear and unicorn costumes, according to NBC News. One participant in a dinosaur costume carried a sign saying “fascism is prehistoric.

Demonstrations were also held in other countries including the United Kingdom and Canada, where – in deference to the official head of state King Charles III – the events were renamed “No Tyrants.”

Republicans had sought to preemptively discredit the protests as a fringe movement dominated by communists and Marxists, with Speaker Mike Johnson and others disparaging it as “the Hate America rally.”

“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Mr. Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a featured speaker at the Washington, D.C. rally, countered by calling it “a love America rally” of “millions of people all over this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and are not going to let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.”

President Trump, who was spending the day at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida, brushed off the protests in a Fox News interview Friday, saying “They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king.”

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott warned about potential violence and ordered the deployment of the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety troopers to protect the state capitol at Austin.

That and other heated rhetoric surrounding the events has prompted organizers to warn rally-goers about the risk of a violent crackdown by federal or state forces.

An identical message on organizer websites across the country stresses that a “core principle” behind the  No Kings events is “a commitment to nonviolent action.”

“We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events,” the sites say. “Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.”