‘No Kings’ protests planned across the East End
Protesters will march through East End towns Saturday in a “No Kings” rally, part of nationwide demonstrations opposing Trump administration policies.
Roughly 2,500 communities are expected to take to the streets, an increase from 1,400 last October when an estimated 7 million people participated in “the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history,” according to Riverhead No Kings march coordinator John McAuliff. The first No Kings rally was held last June.
Mr. McAuliff criticized recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on the East End, which he said has devastated the “peaceful family lives of immigrants with no criminal record and threaten the local economy.”
The longtime activist, who was the Riverhead News-Review’s Person of the Year in 2023, also said the Trump administration’s military operations in Venezuela and Iran are a “violation of U.S. and international law.”
Lifelong Riverhead resident Alan Daters, 75, said he plans to march again after attending his first protests during earlier No Kings rallies.
“I think that we are in perilous times as far as freedoms and free elections are concerned,” said Mr. Daters, adding that he has voted for Republicans and Democrats over the years but not for Donald Trump in any of his three races. “The government is not functioning the way it did all through my life — it was always Congress that did its job and opposed presidents of its own party when it needed to.”
Actions by the Trump administration — including tariffs, immigration enforcement efforts and foreign policy decisions — have led Mr. Daters to become more politically active, he added.
Mr. Daters said he believes it is important to speak out at the upcoming demonstration as a way of validating others who may share his concerns.
“I feel that other people who are on the fence as far as do we have a problem, when they see people in their community out there lining the streets in protest, then it sort of validates their thoughts that ‘Hey maybe there is something seriously going wrong here,'” Mr. Daters told the Riverhead News-Review.
Republican Congressman Nick LaLota, who represents the East End, said “peaceful protest is an American right, but concern about executive power shouldn’t be selective.”
“Where were the ‘No Kings’ rallies when Presidents Obama and Biden bypassed Congress on military strikes, or when Biden circumvented Congress and used taxpayer dollars to unconstitutionally pay off student loans?” Mr. LaLota wrote in a statement to the Riverhead News-Review regarding the upcoming protest. “And where were the ‘No Queens’ rallies when Kamala Harris became the nominee without a primary? Accountability should apply no matter who’s in power.”
Saturday’s marches will include Riverhead and Greenport students. Greenport High School senior Faith Welch and Riverhead High School senior Ollie Earl, who organized an anti-ICE walkouts at his school in January, will lead the procession from Riverhead High School.
“I fundamentally disagree with the administration’s complete lack of care or regard for human dignity,” Ollie said, referencing “mass Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests that disrupt communities make people feel threatened and go after people who came to this country in search of all of their own American dreams.”
Ollie also criticized President Trump’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as the administration’s involvement in the war in Iran.
“I would like any high schooler from anywhere on Long Island, especially seniors, to feel comfortable to come down and support any of those issues I mentioned or any other issues they may have with this administration and share it peacefully,” Ollie said.
The march in Riverhead will begin at noon at Riverhead High School and continue to Riverhead Town Hall and then to the New York State Supreme Court on Griffing Avenue, where a rally is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. The Greenport rally will be held in Mitchell Park from 10 a.m. to noon. Another demonstration, led by indivisibleli.org, will be held at Riverhead County Center from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Participants can join the Riverhead procession at the high school, along the route, or at Town Hall around 1 p.m. for a shorter march to the Supreme Court steps. People with limited mobility can go directly to the courthouse where a space will be provided for folding chairs and wheelchairs. For more information about the route, visit tinyurl.com/RHNoKings.
The group’s press release describes Town Hall as a focal point, citing local debate over proposed legislation drafted by OLA of Eastern Long Island related to immigration enforcement.
Southold Town Board created its own Public Safety Task Force to review the proposed legislation from OLA and other legislation regarding immigration enforcement following pressure from residents to take action in January and February.
A separate 40-mile march will also take place Saturday, March 28, starting at 5 a.m. in Montauk and ending in Hampton Bays at 8 p.m. Another No Kings event in Hampton Bays at the corner of Montauk Highway and Route 24 is slated from noon to 2 p.m.
“We must stand up together and show that kindness still matters, that doing the right thing still matters,” Allison Kanas of Indivisible Long Island said. “My ReSisters have proved to me that when women unite around a shared purpose we are unstoppable — even when it means challenging the old way of doing things.”
March 28 Riverhead Rally Run of Show
- 1:25 Paul Henry: 2 – 3 songs
- 1:35 John McAuliff, Welcome
- 1:40 Father John Cervini, St. John the Evangelist, Invocation
- 1:45 Chip Williford, Suffolk County Poet Laureat
- 1:50 Irma Solis, New York Civil Liberties Union-Suffolk Regional Office
- 2:00 Rev. Bohdan Hedz, St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church
- 2:05 Alma Tovar, OLA of Eastern Long Island
- 2:15 Cindy Clifford, participatory song
- 2:20 Ollie Earl, Riverhead High School student
- 2:25 Faith Welch, Greenport High School student
- 2:30 Rev. Roger Joslin, Pastor, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church of Greenport
- 2:35 Kathryn Szoka, Progressive East End Reformers PEER/NYPAN
- 2:40 Michael Iasilli, Member of the Southampton Town Council
- 2:50 Brienne Ahearn, Wrap up (both Town Hall and rally)
- 2:55 John McAuliff No Kings 4, announcements, conversation tables
