Minnesota to host 'No Kings' flagship rally, headlining Springsteen amid tensions over ICE and war

Bruce Springsteen performs at a campaign rally supporting Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Oct. 28, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota will be the flagship of the “No Kings” protest movement Saturday when Bruce Springsteen performs “Streets of Minneapolis” in a state where emotions are still raw over U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the deaths of two residents shot by federal officers.

More than 3,100 events are being organized in communities large and small across all 50 states, with more than 9 million people expected to participate. A growing number of them will be in suburbs, which are increasingly on the front lines of resistance against Trump’s policies.

Organizers have designated the Minnesota rally, at the state Capitol in St. Paul, as Saturday’s flagship event. They’ve told a state oversight agency that 100,000 people could converge on the Capitol complex, where last June’s event drew an estimated 80,000 people.

The movement is spreading around the world, said Ezra Levin, a cofounder of Indivisible, the activist group spearheading the events. Rallies are also planned in more than a dozen other countries, he said in an interview, including Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Mexico and Australia. In counties with constitutional monarchies, he said, they call the protests “No Tyrants.”

Besides Springsteen, the St. Paul rally will also feature singer Joan Baez and actor Jane Fonda, who’ve been noted for their activism since the Vietnam War era, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a hero of the progressive movement, along with a long list of other national and local activists, labor leaders and elected officials.

Levin said the national organizers chose Minnesota because it was subject to “some of the most horrific, sadistic behavior you can imagine” from the Trump administration.

“At the same time, in the Twin Cities earlier this year, we saw some of the most inspiring, neighborly, brave organizing that we’ve seen anywhere in the country, and it serves as an inspiration to all of us,” Levin added.

This will be the third round of “No Kings” protests, which often have a street festival vibe. They’re organized by a broad coalition of groups opposed to what they call authoritarianism under Trump, and his attempts to consolidate and expand his power. Organizers say more than 5 million people took to the streets at more than 2,100 events last June, followed by more than 7 million people at more than 2,700 events last October.

Organizers announced Saturday’s protests in January, shortly after the killings in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Plans had already been in the works, but their deaths during the surge of around 3,000 federal officers into Minnesota provided a new focus.

Opposition to the war in Iran, which the U.S. and Israel launched with airstrikes on Feb. 28, is expected to draw even more people to the protests, Levin said.

The White House dismissed the planned protests as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.

“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

Trump reacted to previous “No Kings” rallies by insisting “I’m not a king” and saying attendees were “not representative of the people of our country.”

Springsteen came to Minnesota soon after composing “Streets of Minneapolis” to honor Good, Pretti and other residents for their courage in standing up against the federal crackdown. He first performed it live at a fundraiser at the iconic First Avenue nightclub. He’s sure to sing it Saturday at the Capitol and again Tuesday night at the city’s Target Center when he and the E Street kick off their Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour.

Springsteen has long feuded with Trump, who has called the New Jersey rock icon “overrated.”

The tour logo includes the “No Kings” slogan. Springsteen has said they’re coming in defense of “American democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution and our sacred American dream — all of which are under attack by our wannabe king and his rogue government.”

“The No Kings movement is of great import right now,” Springsteen told The Minnesota Star Tribune ahead of the rally. ”When you have the opportunity to sing something where the timing is essential and if you have something powerful to sing, it elevates the moment, it elevates your job to another level.”

Steve Karnowski, The Associated Press