WEB ARTICLE 2025:
October 19, 2025
No Kings, No Tyrants: Millions Rally from Denver to Tokyo in a Global Stand for Democracy
On October 18, 2025, more than seven million people across the U.S. and abroad joined the “No Kings” protests—Denver alone drew up to 30,000—as citizens worldwide demanded accountability, democratic norms, and an end to authoritarian power.
By William Cameron
USE ARROWS TO MOVE THROUGH IMAGES
On a clear autumn afternoon at the Colorado State Capitol, a crowd that organizers now say numbered 25,000–30,000 filled the west steps and spilled into Civic Center Park. By midafternoon on October 18, 2025, the plaza and surrounding streets had become a chorus of yellow shirts, hand-lettered placards and speakers delivering the same refrain: “No Kings.” That Denver figure—significantly higher than the permit organizers filed for and larger than many local outlets’ early estimates—was reported by Colorado Newsline after the event and well illustrates how, in city after city, the protests outgrew initial expectations. The mood in Denver mixed civic ritual and raw urgency: legal primers on protest rights, short testimonials from immigrant advocates, veterans in uniform urging peaceful action, and students chanting for institutions that check concentrated power.
Those Denver numbers feed into a much larger national account. Organizers—a broad coalition of progressive groups, unions, local activists and international allies—estimated roughly 7-million participants across some 2,700+ discrete “No Kings” actions held the same day in all 50 states. Independent outlets and wire services recorded thousands of rallies ranging from small-town courthouse lawn gatherings to massive anchor-city demonstrations. The organizers’ 7-million figure should be read as an aggregate estimate drawn from many local reports and organizer tallies (and therefore necessarily imperfect,) but it is consistent with the volume of visual evidence, permit filings, and on-the-ground reporting in dozens of cities. Whatever the exact total, the movement’s logistics—simultaneous events nationwide—converted hundreds of local spectacles into one unmistakable national narrative: a broad segment of the public mobilized to contest what it sees as an accelerating executive overreach.
If Denver was one of the region’s largest single-site gatherings, the day’s clearest media images came from large blue states where anchor-city turnouts were especially robust. In New York City, multiple marches radiated through Midtown, Times Square and Union Square; local law-enforcement and press used the word “thousands” in immediate dispatches, while organizers framed the Manhattan events as among the day’s most visible public spectacles. In the San Francisco Bay Area and greater Los Angeles, ABC local coverage logged “thousands” moving through Embarcadero Plaza, Civic Center and major downtown corridors; photogenic human banners and inflatable “No Kings” installations provided the visuals that made the day’s television and social clips. Chicago’s Grant Park and Loop marches—by some local accounts among the most densely attended single-city demonstrations of the day—drew crowds described variously as tens of thousands to many tens of thousands depending on source and moment. In Washington, D.C., the Mall and Pennsylvania Avenue hosted a prominent demonstration that national reporters flagged as one of the country’s largest single-site gatherings. These large blue-state concentrations mattered for two reasons: they supplied the media imagery that national audiences see first, and they demonstrated the cross-sectional breadth of the movement within states that are, electorally and institutionally, pivotal.
Because crowd estimates vary by method—police estimates, organizer counts, and visual analyses rarely match perfectly—it’s useful to read the day’s numbers as ranges. New York City’s localized reporting leaned toward the low-to-mid thousands at specific Manhattan rallies; California’s combined Bay Area and Los Angeles footprint produced multiple events whose combined attendance reached into the tens of thousands; Chicago’s downtown gatherings were among the heftiest single-site counts reported. Taken together, the blue states—New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington and others—accounted for a substantial share of the aggregate turnout, both through big single-site protests and dense networks of suburban and small-city events. In many of these places, the day also doubled as a regional organizing moment: after the rallies, groups announced plans to convert immediacy into paid canvassing, voter-registration drives, litigation support for demonstrators, and local lobbying strategies.
No Kings Protest -Denver, Image: William Cameron
Colorado’s spread beyond Denver illustrated another tactical feature: the movement deliberately pushed into smaller towns and into traditionally conservative counties. Across Colorado organizers listed 60+ events—from Fort Collins to Grand Junction, from the Eastern Plains to mountain towns—and reports showed many gatherings in the low hundreds and several in the low thousands outside metro Denver. That distributed approach was mirrored in red and purple states where organizers intentionally seeded local events to undercut any claim that the protests were purely “coastal.” In Florida, for instance, the statewide calendar listed dozens of events ranging from Miami down to the Gulf coast and Panhandle, with local media reporting turnout that ranged from a few hundred in smaller towns to several thousand in Tampa and Tallahassee. These actions in so-called “unlikely” political terrain are precisely what organizers wanted: to shape the narrative that concerns about executive consolidation are geographically broad and not confined to metropolitan liberal elites.
The international dimension of Oct. 18 is notable both symbolically and numerically. While the U.S. demonstrations constituted the core of the mobilization, solidarity events took place on multiple continents. Organizers, allied expatriate networks and NGOs logged “No Tyrants / No Kings” solidarity gatherings in dozens of countries; reputable press roundups and movement communications consistently identified solidarity actions in places as varied as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Mexico and Japan. In Tokyo, Democrats Abroad and allied groups gathered in Shibuya and in front of the U.S. Embassy for a “No Tyrants” demonstration; local reporting and participants’ accounts put the Tokyo crowd in the low hundreds—roughly 200 people—a small but visible expression of concern by U.S. expatriates and local allies. Other international events were smaller street actions or symbolic vigils; collectively they emphasized that worries about democratic backsliding in the United States resonate beyond U.S. borders.
Why would people in places like Tokyo, Berlin or Toronto show up? Partly because U.S. policy choices on immigration enforcement, international human rights, and the rule of law have direct effects abroad; partly because the “No Kings” frame taps into a transnational anxiety about democratic norms, not only to do with one country’s leader but with a global pattern of illiberal executive claims and the erosion of institutional checks. In countries with constitutional monarchies (Spain, Sweden, the U.K.,) organizers often used alternative phrasing—“No Tyrants,” “No Dictators”—to avoid confusion with local institutions while still signaling solidarity. The international turnouts were not meant to eclipse the U.S. dimension; instead they underscored a broader rhetorical point: the defense of accountable government is a globalized civic language that crosses borders.
There were, of course, flashpoints. A minority of locations saw confrontations with federal agents near detention or enforcement facilities; Portland and several other cities reported clashes that drew law-enforcement crowd-control responses. Arrests were reported in some jurisdictions, and national outlets noted a small number of incidents where the day’s nonviolent posture frayed. That, too, became part of the narrative: for organizers, it hardened resolve (and increased post-action legal-aid signups;) for opponents, it served as a pretext to paint the movement as disruptive. Yet the dominant tenor in most places was peaceful demonstration, with trained marshals, medics, and de-escalation teams present at many large events.
No Kings Protest -Denver, Image: William Cameron
So, what do these numbers mean politically? Numbers matter for optics and for bargaining power. Tens of thousands in Denver amplified local pressure on congressional offices and state legislators; massive concentrations in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington produced the imagery that reverberates in a 24-hour media cycle. But the movement’s strategic test will be converting spectacle into sustained civic infrastructure: will these participants become volunteers in local organizing drives, donors to civic-litigation funds, or active voters in upcoming primaries and general elections? Early signals are mixed but suggestive—many groups announced follow-up actions within 48 hours of Oct. 18, and several civic-engagement coalitions said they would prioritize translating demonstration energy into voter contact and organizing.
Finally, the Denver turnout is worth pausing on not only because of its size but because of what it signals about urban-regional civic life. Colorado’s 25,000–30,000 in Denver joined thousands elsewhere in the state, producing a statewide mosaic that both mirrored and amplified national alarm. In a country where narratives about geography and political identity are often weaponized, the No Kings day made a different rhetorical claim: that citizens across the map—in blue cities and red towns, in global capitals and small hamlets—can and will publicly contest what they see as a drift away from accountable governance.
Numbers, at the end of the day, are a kind of language for democratic pressure. On Oct. 18, 2025, the language spoken in Denver, in major blue-state anchor cities, and in solidarity protests from Tokyo to Toronto was loud and multilingual: citizens declaring that concentrated, unchecked power—whether called king, tyrant, or dictator—has no place in modern democratic life. Whether the day changes policy or only strengthens civic networks, it accomplished a more basic task: it showed that millions still believe in public contestation as a way to remind power that it answers to people—not crowns.
—Editorial synthesis based on local Colorado reporting (Colorado Newsline, Colorado Sun, Colorado Public Radio,) national outlets and wire reporting, and international coverage including JapanToday and Democrats Abroad event notices. For Denver turnout specifically, see Colorado Newsline’s Oct. 18 reporting.
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About the author
With a 25-year background in print advertising sales and publishing, a love for art and design, and steadfast determination, William has helped develop and execute the successful launch of three publications over his career; METROMODE being his own. As the Creative Director, he sets the brand's vision and leads a talented team of writers while bringing his creative abilities (16-years in graphic design) to designing each issue.
Since 2004, METROMODE has been a beacon for the LGBTQIA+ community and our allies. We’re a publication built on quality, not only in our advertising clients but in the look, feel, and editorial pieces of each magazine. METROMODE speaks to the entire community with thoughtful analysis of local, national, and global events affecting our community; developments in business, finance, the economy, and real estate; interviews with emerging and seasoned artists, musicians, and writers; appealing new opportunities to enjoy Colorado’s rich culture and social atmosphere; quality aesthetic experiences from film, to food, to music, to art, to night life; and challenging social and political thought.
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