Another “No Kings” day of action will involve several Arlington demonstrations next week, including a march into D.C. and a Ballston protest led by local seniors.
Over 1,500 people have already signed up for the latest wave of anti-Trump demonstrations in Arlington, part of over 2,000 protests planned nationwide on Saturday, Oct. 18, organizers told ARLnow.
We of Action Virginia will kick off the day with protests on several I-66 overpasses running the length of the county. A similar event will also be happening on a bridge over I-395 in Fairlington, where protesters have been gathering on a regular basis for months.
Another demonstration — this one hosted by Third Act Virginia, which focuses on rallying seniors throughout the commonwealth — will gather on the Arlington side of Memorial Bridge at 11 a.m. before marching into D.C., where protesters will join a larger event on the National Mall.
“The president thinks his rule is absolute,” an event description says. “But in America, we don’t have kings, and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty. Grow our movement and join us.”
A final local event organized by residents of a senior living facility, many of them past activists of the Civil Rights and anti-war movements of the ’60s and ’70s, will take place at Welburn Square in Ballston (901 N. Taylor Street) starting at noon.
“It’s like we’re catapulting backwards — everything to do with rights, to do with DEI,” organizer Therese Rea, 81, told ARLnow. “We were so drilled in school, ‘don’t worry … no one group can take over, because we’ve got checks and balances,’ and it’s sort of messing with my head.'”
Rea said the Ballston protest is meant to offer an option for people who can’t go into D.C. for mobility reasons.
“We’re seniors who are in their 70s, 80s, 90s, who still feel passionately about our politics and how we feel, but going downtown is just rather more challenging than we’re available for,” she said.
The demonstrations follow a previous “No Kings” push ahead of June military parade in D.C., when an estimated 5,000 people lined long stretches of Langston Blvd from Rosslyn to Falls Church, in an attempt to form an enormous, 5.2-mile “human chain.”
Micaela Pond, founder of We of Action Virginia, told ARLnow that local groups had considered doing another “Hands Across Arlington” event this time, until organizers named D.C. as the anchor city for the nationwide protests.
A “Hands Across Alexandria” event is still taking place on Oct. 18 and is expected to attract at least 1,200 people.
