WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Arriving in everything from wheelchairs to strollers to inflatable lobster costumes, about 5,000 people lined a main Upper Valley thoroughfare on Saturday in a sequel to June’s “No Kings” protest.
The gathering in the heart of the Upper Valley took place from 12:30 p.m. to about 2:30 p.m. and stretched along Maple Street in White River Junction to Main Street in West Lebanon. Elsewhere in the Upper Valley on Saturday, similar protests were scheduled for Claremont, Enfield, Hanover, Newbury, Vt.; New London, Orford, Randolph, Royalton, Windsor and Woodstock.
The events were part of a nationwide protest aimed at standing in unified resistance against the Trump administration.
“This is meant to be a joyful celebration of like-minded people who believe in the Constitution and the rule of law,” said Sherry Boschert, of Lebanon, an organizer with Upper Valley Indivisible New Hampshire, one of the protest leaders.
“We just want to make our presence visible,” Boschert said, “so that politicians in the New Hampshire State House and in Washington, D.C., know that we will not tolerate dictators, we will not tolerate self-appointed kings and we stand up for democracy.”
The White River Junction/West Lebanon protest grew by nearly 1,000 people since the last No Kings event on June 14.
Participants added new ways of expressing themselves this time around. A gaggle of about seven people dressed in inflatable costumes ran, jumped and danced across Maple and Pine streets, darting between the other protesters who held signs that read: “Dump the divider in chief,” “No faux-king way” and “This is what a patriot looks like.”
Among the seven were a shark, a chicken, a panda, a Tyrannosaurus rex, a lobster, a burger and Godzilla.
Many in the inflatable costumes said they were in support of the frogs in Portland, Ore., which have become a symbol of resistance against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and National Guard troops in that city.
“There’s nothing more terrifying to authority than people in inflatable suits,” said Michael Hinsley, 59, of Lyme, who wore a blow-up lobster costume. (There were no frogs available when he bought his suit on Wednesday, he said.)
“Every little attempt at any sort of resistance is standing up to encourage (…) the government and Congress. That’s why we’re here,” Hinsley said through a plastic face hole, waving his claws to the honks of passing cars.
It’s important that a lot of protesters are seen “not only by this current administration (…), but for local folks to see one another,” said Jessie Eisendrath, a co-leader of Three Rivers Indivisible, the White River Junction-based activism group that helped organize the protest.
Other groups involved were Upper Valley Rise UP!, Upper Valley Coalition and Upper Valley Visibility Brigade.
June’s No Kings protest was held on the same day as a military parade in Washington in celebration of 250 years of the Army and also Trump’s 79th birthday. Similarly, Saturday’s protests served as a counterpoint to the Trump administration’s militarized deportations and National Guard deployments into major U.S. cities.
“The way the country’s been going is just not the way we’ve seen it ever, even during Nixon’s time,” Tom Monego, 74, of East Thetford, said about “bringing troops into cities.”
Monego stood beside a handmade dove with wings stretching about 6 feet across and an olive branch hanging from its beak. Monego’s wife, Sarah, sewed the fabric encasing the dove that was inspired by the story of Noah’s Ark, Monego said.
Pulling strings to flap its wings, Nina Kieserman, a 19-year-old sophomore at Dartmouth, said she was concerned about Trump’s racially-motivated deportations that have lacked the due process of trials.
As an excuse for the deportations, “people of a specific descent are affiliated with either gangs or with other less savory groups in society,” and the Trump administration then holds them in “inhumane” immigration detention facilities, Kieserman said.
Beside her was Rowan Magee, 18, another sophomore at Dartmouth, who — holding a sign that read, “First they came for the students” — voiced concern about First Amendment rights.
“The threats to free speech also really scare me,” said Magee, who heard about the protest during Friday’s teach-in on Trump’s higher education compact. “We need to exercise it now before we lose it.”
Roan Wade — a Dartmouth student who was arrested in October 2023 for refusing to leave an unauthorized tent pitched on the main administration building’s lawn and later suspended for their continued advocacy for Palestinians — said that while protests like Saturday’s do well to show a motivated population, substantial change comes primarily through sustained effort.
“It’s great to see so many people coming out,” Wade said. “But ultimately, I’m not sure that these forms of public display really have all that much power to pressure the Trump administration, given his just complete lack of care or concern about what the people have to say.”
“We really need to be engaging and organizing in activism and resistance to the Trump administration everyday,” Wade added. “Not just on these national days of action.”
Vermont state Sen. Joe Major, D-Hartford, said that, while he agrees with this sentiment, peaceful protest is itself capable of making change through large numbers.
“In the civil rights movement, all they did was protest. All they did was show people that segregation and racism had no place,” said Major. “And then there were laws enacted to supplement that, to make sure that those things changed.”
While “there are literally too many (problems with the administration) thrown at you to name them all,” Major mentioned his qualms with its immigration policies, new tariffs, and cuts to government health insurance programs.
As the protest wound down around 2:30 p.m., Eisendrath, one of the organizers, said she was pleased. “I thought today was spectacular,” she said. “It was peaceful, it was fun, it was community building. It’s wonderful to see more diverse faces and ages.”
Organizers provided sign-up sheets so that protesters could get more involved with future activism and protest planning.
“Another outcome that we’re looking for is action beyond today,” said Eisendrath. “It’s no one protest that’s gonna then be the catalyst for ultimate change. (But) numbers do matter.”
