Widespread Arlington protests against the Trump administration are scheduled to happen on Saturday along Langston Blvd and on I-66 overpasses.
Across 5.2 miles of sidewalk between Rosslyn and Falls Church, We of Action Virginia is organizing a “human chain” in rejection of “authoritarianism and the militarization of our democracy.”
The group also plans to post up on numerous bridges over I-66, waving American flags and messages like “No dictators, no crowns” and “We the people, not a king.”
Around 2,000 people have already signed up to take part in the demonstrations, which will take place in advance of the military parade that begins at 6:30 p.m. on the National Mall, organizer Julie Hanson Swanson told ARLnow.
“We want to make sure that the Trump administration knows that we in Arlington respect the Constitution and our democracy, and we are willing to fight for it and speak out,” Swanson said.
The Arlington protests are among roughly 1,500 “No Kings Day” events planned across the nation on Saturday, taking aim at this administration’s approach to a wide range of issues.
Swanson, a retired USAID worker, listed mass federal layoffs, the methods of Trump’s immigration crackdown and possible cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs as some of the top issues that she sees impacting Arlington.
“The whole theme is no kings, that we do not have kings in America,” she said.
Swanson underscored plans to keep demonstrations “very peaceful,” acting as a counterprogram to the parade in D.C. but staying firmly in Virginia.
Trump has threatened to deploy “very heavy force” against any protesters at the parade, which coincides with his 79th birthday. Federal agencies responsible for safety at the event have struck a more even-tempered tone.
“If it’s simply people, you know, using their First Amendment right to protest, then we’re not going to do anything with that, but if that turns violent or if any laws are broken, that’s when [the Metropolitan Police Department], park police, Secret Service will get involved,” Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s D.C. field office, told reporters on Monday.
McCool noted, however, that “there is a plan to call in the National Guard, if needed.”
In Arlington, Swanson said organizers have been in touch with local police and have conducted trainings to respond to any “provocateurs.” She doesn’t expect much trouble, though.
“We want to make sure that we are not a provocation to the Trump administration, and instead the mantra is to be everywhere where he is not,” she said.
Overall, Swanson hopes the protests send a message to the other side of the Potomac.
“It is really just a reassertion that we are a democracy,” she said. “We are not an autocracy.”
