https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/2025/06/14/over-2000-attend-anti-trump-rally-at-worcester-common/84208044007/
"No Kings" rally against the Trump administration
WORCESTER — A crowd carrying protest signs packed the Worcester Common Saturday, June 14, for a “No Kings” demonstration against President Donald Trump and his policies, one of more than 2,000 such rallies that took place nationwide that afternoon.
“We say no to authoritarianism, we say no to corruption, and we say no to wannabe kings like Donald Trump,” U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, said, meeting with a roar of agreement from the demonstrators. “Trump is escalating tensions so he can take us into full-blown autocracy.”
Organizers estimated more than 2,000 people attended the Worcester protest, which featured several speakers.
Demonstrators held signs bearing slogans like “The Constitution is not a suggestion” and “Billionaires are the only minority destroying America.” Some waved American flags, a few of which flew upside down as a distress signal.
Many of the day’s speakers criticized Trump’s efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, as well as his deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles in response to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
“Today, our terrified immigrants are being snatched and detained without due process,” Central Assabet Indivisible Network organizer Kay Rusk said. “This work is to intimidate us by terrorizing our immigrants, and this is the oldest game in the autocrat’s playbook.”

McGovern cited a June 12 incident in which Secret Service agents forcibly removed U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California from a Los Angeles press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“If Donald Trump’s people treat a sitting U.S. Senator like that, you can only imagine how they treat a farmer or a laborer or a mother or a father, or how they will treat you if you come face to face with them,” McGovern said. “It is shameful and it is un-American.”
In the 1960s, dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu instituted laws in Romania that banned abortion and contraception and punished childless adults. Over the following decades, the country’s birth rate rose while its economy worsened, and thousands of children were abandoned by parents who could not afford to care for them.
Callan said she was one of those children, and though she came to the United States at a young age, the memories remain, brought back much more strongly now that Trump is in office again.
“My very existence is due to reproductive choice not being available, and I’m seeing history repeat. I’m here because I don’t want to see another child go through what me and my birth mother went through,” Callan said. “I survived a dictatorship and I know what has to happen to really deal with them and the regime. Remove them by any means necessary.”
The nationwide “No Kings” protests took place on the same day as a military parade in Washington, D.C. that marked the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, but also took place on Trump’s 79th birthday.
“It is not patriotic to throw yourself a birthday party and use the U.S. military as props. It is pathetic,” McGovern said. “It is costing the taxpayer in excess of $45 million. That $45 million would be better spent rehiring all the people (Trump) laid off at the (Department of Veterans Affairs).”
On June 14, 1775, weeks into the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Army out of existing New England militias in order to fight British troops.
250 years to the day later, in Worcester, several protest signs made reference to that war and compared Trump to King George III. One man wore an outfit that resembled a Continental Army uniform, waving the flag of the 13 colonies.
At one point, demonstrators observed a moment of silence for Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated along with her husband in their home the previous night.
“Violence of any kind is unacceptable, and this is a premeditated assassination. It's political violence, which everybody needs to condemn, period. It's scary that this is happening,” McGovern said afterwards.
Earlier in the day, a group gathered on the Belmont Street overpass above I-290 to hold protest signs in clear view of the drivers passing by below.
The Worcester rally took place at the same time as similar demonstrations in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and hundreds of other cities and towns across the country. In Central Massachusetts, other rallies took place in Fitchburg, Ashburnham, Barre, Charlton, Douglas, Grafton, Leicester, Mendon, and Milford.
“I hope it sends a signal to some of my Republican colleagues that the American people are not going to sit by quietly while Trump dismantles our democracy,” McGovern said.
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette
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