“No Kings” movement grows in strength
Coverage from around Rhode Island assembled by Will
Collette:
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| Westerly, from South County Rising |
"Well, we did it! We surpassed all predictions for the
turnout of the NO KINGS protest everywhere! The “biggest crowds ever
seen” is the report coming out of every location.
"The official and probably conservative count in Westerly was
reported at 3,000.
"We were peaceful, proud and patriotic; there were no arrests
or trouble with parking. Thank you to everyone who was polite and friendly and
helped show the world that Southern Rhode Island is indeed woke and proud of
it.
"Those of you who were there in spirit, we appreciate your
support to save our democracy.
"View video HERE. View album of protest
photos HERE. You may add your photos to
it until October 25."
Follow South County Rising on Bluesky.
Video and Photos of the No Kings rally in Providence, Rhode
Island
Steve
Ahlquist reports:
"On October 18, at least 15,000 people gathered outside the
Rhode Island State House in Providence, joining countless other cities and
towns across the United States to condemn President Trump’s fascist overreach
and to declare that America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.
"Here are the videos and pictures I [Steve] gathered at the
event: Video and Photos of the No Kings rally in Providence, Rhode
Island"
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| Providence. Photo by Steve Ahlquist |
Alexander Castro at Rhode Island Current reports:
"The parking lot next to the Rhode Island State House is
normally filled with lawmakers’ cars, but it was empty Saturday
afternoon.
"What was full instead was the south side of the State House,
where the lawn and marble steps — often places absent of pageantry, except for
the occasional photo shoot during prom season — entertained a crowd of more
than 30,000 people, according to the organizers of the No Kings protest.
"The Providence protest is one of just under a dozen such
rallies that took place in Rhode Island Saturday meant to protest President
Donald Trump’s administration and its policies."
RI Current ran lots of great photos and some video HERE.
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| Providence. Photo by David Hansen/Rhode Island Current) |
Rhode Island mainstream media coverage was (sigh) poor.
The ProJo’s coverage was muted, largely limited to this
video: Crowd
outside Rhode Island State House Oct. 18 2025 “No Kings” rally. And from
the Westerly Sun, we got crickets. Seems that the corporate owners of the two
dailies serving the Charlestown area have given up on covering local news.
Note that the ProJo did run a piece on Saturday (click here) but it was gone today. In that now hidden account, they gave this estimate of crowd size:
"Organizers estimated Saturday's turnout at the State House at 32,000, although that figure could not be independently corroborated. The crowd appeared to be easily in the 20,000-person range." The ProJo radically low-balled the crowd size for the June 14 No Kings rally at only 3,000.
Our three main TV stations with their new hard-right,
pro-Trump owners had virtually nothing on their websites. WPRI (owned by
Nextstar): nadda. WLNE (owned by Sinclair) served this up: Rhode
Islanders join nationwide 'No Kings' protests | ABC6, claiming outrageously
that only “over a thousand” showed up at the State House in Providence.
Of the three stations, Sinclair-owned WJAR posted the most
content on their website HERE.
Their coverage gives lots of attention to how the protests disrupted traffic.
The largest quote WJAR posted came from Rhode Island Republican Party leader
Joe Powers who, according to Channel 10, “said he doesn't see these protests
accomplishing much.”
They did run a good photo of the protest in North Kingstown. I think it's fair to say there are at least as many people on the road in North Kingstown as the count given by Sinclair-owned Channel 6 for the Providence rally.
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| Screenshot. |
