Thousands of protesters flocked to the Broadway Bridge for the third “No Kings” protest in Little Rock March 28.
“No Kings” protests occurred in several cities across Arkansas and across the United States, with over eight million participants across the country estimated by organizers.
The Little Rock protest was organized primarily by Indivisible Arkansas, along with some collaboration with organizations such as 50501 Arkansas.
Rachel Horton said she attended the event because of her discontent with the actions of the Trump Administration.
“I think [Trump’s] more unhinged now than he’s ever been,” Horton said. “Which, we say Trump, we say him, like Dump Trump. Really it’s the whole system. He’s just the figurehead right now.”
Horton said she thought the turnout of this protest was much bigger than the last “No Kings” protest in Little Rock, which was held Oct. 18, 2025.
Stephen Carnes said he is frustrated with the foreign policy of the current administration.
“One of things that bothered me most is this corrupt war for Iran that was apparently initiated by Israel,” Carnes said. “The war has obviously driven up the price of oil, and he took this opportunity to cancel sanctions of Russian oil. So now, our horrible oil prices are funding Russia’s war in Ukraine. Our tax dollars fund the war in Gaza, and now Lebanon and now Iran.”
The event began with protesters gathering at Margaret Clark Adventure Park to listen to speaker, Arkansas Civic Action Network founder and executive director, Gail Choate.
“‘No Kings’ is grounded in the belief that when power starts acting like it’s above the person, it’s gotta be stopped,” Choate said. “History has a way of repeating itself, and we have seen this carried out before.”
Choate said, “In 1776, our forefathers said, ‘No Kings.’ ‘No Kings’ is just us.”
Choate then led a call-and-repeat chant that protesters chanted during the march: “No kings, just us.”
“It’s time for us to quit worrying about who gets the credit,” Choate said. “It’s time to stop worrying about what somebody else might need that would take from us because let me tell you, there is more than enough to go around. There is more than enough for all of us. It’s only being taken away when those who want to seize power push us aside. But today we’re here to say we won’t be pushed aside.”
In addition to Choate’s speech, organizers instructed protesters to put away weapons and to not engage with cops or counter-protesters.
“There was a thing that happened, an incident in Utah, where a protester had a gun, and an organizer had a gun, and the organizer didn’t know the protester was a protester and they shot them,” the organizers said. “It also lowers the risk of cops giving us a hard time.”
There were no reported incidents of protesters drawing weapons at the Little Rock protest, but not all protesters agreed with telling participants not to bring weapons.
“Bring your fucking weapons, hell yeah, like absolutely,” John Claggett said. “We have a right to carry, and in Arkansas, we can conceal carry without a permit. It’s another strike against our constitutional rights.”
According to Act 746 of 2013, any resident at least 18 years of age who can legally possess a firearm can conceal carry a handgun in Arkansas, though places like schools, jails, courthouses, airports, churches and most public buildings do not permit concealed carrying without a license.
“I believe in the protests, I do not believe in the peaceful protests,” John Claggett said. “That’s just like, we’re doing what they’re telling us to. How is that gonna actually make any fundamental change? I don’t believe it ever has, really. You look at the end of Trump’s first term, we had the Black Lives Matter Protests, what did we get? We got Nancy Pelosi, kneeling in some fucking building, and then like, somebody painted a crosswalk. It’s like, yeah we need to do more, but I don’t think we’re class conscious enough yet.”
After the protest, several different political activist organizations set up tents at the Community Connect Fair on the North Little Rock side of the river outside of Dickey Stephens Park.
Organizations included but were not limited to the NAACP, the Young Democrats of Arkansas, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Committee of Labor for Arkansas Workers Party (CLAW) and Arkansas Peace for Palestine.
Horton said the large turnout of the protest was encouraging in a majority-Republican voting state like Arkansas, and said that it is important for people who are frustrated with the current administration to make their voices heard.
“We can’t stay silent any longer,” Horton said. “We have to make community and get out here by like-minded people. It definitely makes you feel less alone in what we think of as a big red state, but obviously it’s not quite so red.”
