Rallies come amid an escalation of the war with Iran, high gas prices and threats to voting rights.
Demonstrators gather at Waterfront Park on Harbor Drive at the Embarcadero on Saturday. Participants say they are mobilizing in defense of democratic institutions, civil liberties and social programs affecting San Diego County families.
Tens of thousands of San Diegans took to the streets Saturday for a third round of “No Kings” demonstrations, this time rallying against an escalating war with Iran, ongoing scrutiny of the Epstein files and mounting economic instability under President Donald Trump’s administration. The protests — part of a coordinated global movement whose flagship rally was held at the Minnesota State Capitol — unfolded amid a partial federal government shutdown, a sliding stock market and mounting concerns over conditions inside immigration detention facilities. More than 3,200 events were planned nationwide for Saturday, with additional demonstrations in countries including Italy, France and Germany. Locally, at least 20 rallies were scheduled from Oceanside to Otay Mesa, with events spread throughout the day. A main rally in downtown San Diego kicked off at 10 a.m. at Waterfront Park, where police estimated roughly 30,000 people gathered to hear speakers, including elected officials, union leaders and podcaster Allison Gill. In North County, hundreds marched through Carlsbad, carrying signs and chanting as they moved along Marron Road. “Every day’s a new horror show,” said Patti Slack, membership chair of the Democratic Club of Carlsbad and Oceanside. She said leadership starts from the ground up, citing participation in local elections as a powerful force for change. Looking ahead to the midterm elections, she hopes these demonstrations remind residents that their vote matters. “I hope this encourages you to become involved in your local politics and get engaged, because it won’t change if we don’t express it and make it felt that there needs to be a change,” Slack said. “More problems have developed since the last No Kings,” she added. “Things aren’t settling down, they’re ramping up.” Fran and Bud Tovar, both Oceanside residents, said they came out because they believe silence is no longer an option. “Your opinion matters, and this is too important to not be active in it,” said Fran, 78, who grew up protesting in the 1960s.“I didn’t go to Vietnam to put up with his nonsense,” he said. Both said they worry fear is discouraging voter participation and urged people to stay engaged ahead of upcoming elections.Organizers of the No Kings movement say the protests began in June 2025 as a single day of mass mobilization, drawing millions nationwide to oppose what they describe as authoritarian actions by President Trump. A second day of protest in October drew more than 7 million people participating in thousands of events across all 50 states. The group frames the demonstrations as a peaceful, grassroots response to a range of concerns, including aggressive immigration enforcement, misplaced federal spending priorities, threats to voting rights and the rising cost of living.Ava Nassar, a 13-year-old middle schooler from Carlsbad, was with friends and classmates Nathan Adewale, 13, and Dante Veducio, 14. Nassar said she attended the demonstration partly as a school assignment on the First Amendment, but also out of a sense of responsibility. She has family in southern Lebanon who were forced to relocate due to Israeli missile strikes.Asked about her generation’s role right now, she said it’s important to stay informed and know right from wrong, “and not just being a follower — standing for what you believe in.” At the downtown rally, signs denouncing both the war in Iran and the powerful people linked to Jeffrey Epstein were among the most numerous, with several combining both topics to suggest the war is a distraction from the Epstein files and Trump’s links to the billionaire financier and convicted sex offender. Labor unions and other groups set up tents and canopies close to the rally. One of the largest displays featured bloodied bundles of white cloth spread across the grass like a makeshift graveyard. Aimee Werth, with the San Diego chapter of CODEPINK, a feminist grassroots anti-war organization, said the bundles represented the children and babies killed in Gaza — a war led by Israel but supported by the U.S. — but that they could have just as easily represented the Iranian schoolgirls killed by a U.S. missile strike on Feb. 28. “We’re against our tax dollars being laundered to fund the military-industrial complex,” she said. “We think our tax dollars need to stay here and we should not, obviously, be killing children in other countries.Many of the speakers at the rally also spoke against the war in Iran, as well as the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement. “Here in San Diego County … we are not going to stand silently by while kids and families can’t put food on the table because we’re fighting wars in Iran that are driving up oil prices and making it impossible for people to make ends meet,” County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said. Alondra Alvarez, a community educator with Universidad Popular, said her grassroots community organization works with families affected by immigration enforcement. She warned the crowd that “there is a militarization that is brewing in our streets.” Crystal Irving, the president of SEIU Local 221, which represents more than 13,000 government workers in San Diego County, said the No Kings movement “is an opportunity to come together from all walks of life, no matter who you are, who you love, what ZIP code you grew up in, what ZIP code you currently reside in, no matter the color of your skin or the texture of your hair — we get to come together and fight and advocate together.”“Yes, we’re going to defeat Trump, that’s important, but it’s equally important to beat the big tech billionaires that put him into office,” she said. “It’s not just Trump that’s terrorizing immigrants, it’s the companies that find where they are and surveil us and send ICE agents out to terrorize our communities.” Gonzalez told those gathered Saturday morning to ignore anyone who says the No Kings rallies around the county and around the country don’t matter. “This is practice — because in November, when Trump tries to upend our elections and keep us from counting … you’re going to show up and you’re going to show up in force,” she said.Excess load on transmission line may have caused SDG&E power outage to 103,000 customersOne shopping list, 12 San Diego grocery stores. 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