From H to J streets, thousands of protesters took to the pavement as part of the No Kings protest, with the Eureka Police Department estimating 3,000 to 4,000 protesters were on site. The protest was one of many held across the country as millions were reported to be in attendance nationwide.
Starting from 11 a.m. at Madaket Plaza on C Street, protesters gathered as speakers rallied the crowd, talking about issues ranging from the Israel-Hamas war, deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, I.C.E. deportations across the nation and other issues that have arisen since President Donald Trump has taken office.
“Let’s be clear that this is more than a rally,” Eureka City Councilmember Mario Fernandez said during the protest. “This is a protective protest. We’re here to protect our community, our democracy and our future from a calculated authoritarian threat project.”
From there the crowd marched through Old Town Eureka with signs and flags as cars honked in support. Protestors came in style, dressed as jesters or on stilts, bringing props like a life-size Trump doll emerging from a trash can with a clown nose. Brass instruments played outside of the Humboldt County Courthouse as protesters sang and chanted, “Chinga la migra,” “No justice, no peace,” and, “The people united will never be divided.”
The protest was planned over the past month by Humboldt Democracy Connection, an activist group in Humboldt County. Marlee Nelson, the protest’s planning manager, said the group decided to take part in the No Kings events after hearing about Trump’s military parade to be held the same day in Washington, D.C. and that would cost an estimated $25 to $45 million.
“We felt like we wanted to do our own parade and spectacle, and be one of the many areas that drew attention away from what Trump was doing and towards the power of the people,” Nelson said.
While the protest was peaceful, a crowd of approximately 100 protestors separated from the march and took over Fifth Street, marching down the street and pushing past protest marshals, according to Nelson.
As Trump hosted a military parade with 6,000 uniformed troops, Black Hawk and Apache helicopters, military rockets, tanks, Army aircraft and artillery vehicles to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday (which notably coincided with his birthday), veterans were among the crowd in the streets of Eureka for No Kings day.
Among the crowd was World War II veteran and member of the 101st Airborne Division George Mullins, who attended his first ever protest in uniform, bearing a sign that said, “No Trump No Nazis.”
“He already told the people that he was going to be a dictator,” Mullins said. “Now, I don’t believe the man in anything, but I believe he meant this. He’s a fallen history man. He took over, within a months’ time, he wrecked our government.”
Martin Robistow, a U.S. Navy veteran, came dressed in uniform to protest the administration, saying that Trump is following the “Nazi playbook.”
“He swore the same oath to the Constitution that I did, and he has broken it several times since he’s been in office,” Robistow said. “As far as I’m concerned, he is a traitor and should be arrested and removed from office.”
Robert Cliver, a history professor at Cal Poly Humboldt, was also among the protestors, saying the simple act of having a military parade was reminiscent of oppressive regimes.
“Historically, that is not something Americans do,” Cliver said. “When Dwight Eisenhower was asked if he wanted a military parade like they do in the Soviet Union and China, he said, ‘No, we don’t do that. That’s a sign of weakness. They do that to show their power, not just to the rest of the world, but to their own people, to intimidate people.'”
Cliver said the administration’s retaliation of calling the National Guard in response to protests in Los Angeles reminded him of the Chinese government’s response to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, when student-led demonstrations against the government were met with tanks and armed troops that killed hundreds.
“Trump just ordered the United States Marine Corps into Los Angeles for no reason,” he said. “Nobody needs them there. There’s no violence happening. There’s no rebellion or insurrection. No one is armed.”
Julian Grosby, a local teacher, said everything going on in the nation is affecting the next generation.
“I see a lot of disillusionment and nihilism in the future generation and kids like really just don’t know what to make of a world that has no certainty,” she said.
Brenda Perez, the executive director of Centro del Pueblo, a nonprofit that advocates for the local Latinx population, spoke during the protest about Latin and Mexican pride while calling for I.C.E. to leave California. Perez, an immigrant from Mexico, said despite the risks she wanted to speak up for her community.
“I acknowledge the risk of organizing as a woman, as an immigrant, but I also recognize the tremendous duty of representing and organizing my community to stop those practices,” Perez said. “I think it’s important for us as immigrants to stand … and to talk about our experiences and transform with that.”
Perez said she has worked with families escaping from the drug wars in Mexico who were seeking refuge in the U.S. and were detained at the border.
“It breaks my heart that entire families have to live in these detention centers for months until they get an answer about their status here in the country, when they were clearly victims of such a tremendous amount of violence [in Mexico],” she said.
Protests have continued in Los Angeles since June 6 after immigration officers were reportedly spotted at an apparel manufacturing business in the downtown Fashion District. The next day as more protestors gathered at a Home Depot in Paramount where it was rumored that I.C.E was preparing a raid, Trump authorized sending 2,000 National Guard troops into Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department and National Guard have since faced scrutiny for their response to the protests, as footage has shown members firing tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds, hitting protestors and journalists.
Since Trump began his promised mass deportation effort, there have been widely documented reports of deportations of legal residents and even U.S. citizens without due process. One man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was deported to an El Salvador mega-prison despite having protected legal status from being sent there. Tourists and foreign national students have also been detained, including a graduate student from University of California Los Angeles who was detained in April at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Perez said that she has received calls from individuals with rumors of I.C.E. agents in Humboldt County, but most been unfounded. However, she confirmed that there was one case of I.C.E. being in the county a few months ago.
Another protest attendee, Artemisia Shine, a somatic therapist, said that they have people in their life who have been deported.
“They’ve lived their entire lives — shave off six months to 10 years — for decades,” Shine said. “This is where their people are. This is where their children are, this is where their grandchildren are, and they can’t come back.”
Many demonstrators at the Eureka No Kings protest stood against the law enforcement response in Los Angeles and the actions of immigration officers in the state with signs that said “I.C.E. out of California,” “I.C.E. Melts” and “Abolish I.C.E.”
Demonstrators slowly started clearing out from the streets as 2 p.m. hit, with protest marshals announcing they would need to clear off the roads once the permit expired.
“Trump is just the tip of the iceberg and that iceberg is melting, my friend,” Perez said during the protest. “We have our words but we also have our actions. Let’s try and translate this energy, this protest, into our daily lives. Let’s be kind to each other. Let’s talk about our words every day, in every step.”
Anne To (she/her) is a California Local News Fellow placed with North Coast Journal, Inc. Reach her at anne@northcoastjournal.com. The California Local News Fellowship is a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local news reporting. Learn more about it at fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows.
This article appears in Restaurant Week 2025.