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Thousands attend 'No Kings' protests in several cities throughout Tampa Bay

By
Published  June 15, 2025 11:03am EDT
Tampa
FOX 13 News
'No Kings' protests across Tampa Bay on Saturday

'No Kings' protests across Tampa Bay on Saturday

FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis talked with protesters who say 'No Kings Day' is a day of defiance as they plan to take action against authoritarianism.

The Brief

    • Thousands of people attended 'No Kings' protests in several cities across the Tampa Bay region on Saturday.
    • Organizers of the protests say it's a day of defiance as they plan to take action against authoritarianism.
    • A group of about ten people in support of President Trump showed up and went through crowds of protesters with a "Keep America Great" flag.

TAMPA - Between 2,000 and 3,000 people were in Downtown Tampa to join in the nationwide "No Kings Day" protests.

Organizers of the protests say it's a day of defiance as they plan to take action against authoritarianism.

Saturday coincided with Trump's 79th birthday and a military parade celebrating the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.

The group lined both sides of East Kennedy Blvd, outside Tampa City Hall, with banners, signs, and flags with anti-Trump administration messaging. Drivers and cyclists traveled down the street with flags and signs too.

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Thousands of people attended 'No Kings' protests in several cities across the Tampa Bay region on Saturday.

What they're saying:

Kenny Tillman said, "I knew there would be a lot of people but there’s so many protests happening everywhere. I thought most people would stay local. But it’s happening in Plant City, it’s happening in Spring Hill, Clearwater, St. Pete, so the fact that we have so many people just in one of these locations is absolutely amazing."

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Thousands of people attended 'No Kings' protests in several cities across the Tampa Bay region on Saturday.

Tillman and his partner said they wore American flags around their shoulders to send a reminder. "Love each other," he said. "It’s fine to have political differences about tax problems or about policy or different things like that, but humans are not politics. People’s livelihoods are not about politics. People being able to be who they are is not politics."

Craig Coyne and his friends held a banner condemning ICE. He said, "We live here so don’t be passive. Be active. If you live in this country, you should be able to appreciate what it takes to fight for the future of our country."

Lauren Weicke shared the same sentiment. "There’s no due process for many of the immigrants who are being rendered to prisons in El Salvador and other places across the world," she said, "They deserve their day in court, and they are not being given that."

Isaac Derboben stressed the importance of protesting peacefully. "If nobody speaks about this. If nobody fights about this. Then we’re just going to slowly corrode from the inside," he said.

The other side:

A group of about ten people in support of President Trump showed up. Multiple times, the group went through crowds of protesters with a "Keep America Great" flag. In response, protesters shouted, "Shame."

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis.

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