More than 1,000 people, carrying signs and chanting, took to the streets of downtown Naperville Saturday afternoon, taking part in the No Kings Rally in protest of the Trump administration’s policies.
Several groups, including Indivisible Naperville and the League of Women Voters of Naperville, organized the rally, the city’s third.
Naperville joins nationwide No Kings Rally
It was one of a number of protests taking place in DuPage County, Illinois, and nationwide.
“This is the third No Kings, and this one is going to help build a sense of community and solidarity as we move forward to move against this ascendancy that we are seeing right now toward authoritarianism. [It] can not happen, not in America,” said Dianne McGuire, co-chair of Indivisible Naperville.
The rally kicked off at Rotary Hill, where demonstrators heard speeches from Johan Salome, program director for Illinois Workers in Action, and Kevin Lee, legal director for ACLU Illinois. Then, they engaged in a “justice singalong” before marching through the streets.
“Everyone deserves a voice, and not everybody is brave enough to use their voice. So, I’ll use mine until they’re brave enough to use theirs,” said Naperville resident Natalie Garcia.
Protesters stressed that the demonstrations are a continued effort to speak up against what they see as injustices, pointing to the war in Iran and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests.
“We want reforms. We don’t want masked agents terrorizing our neighborhoods and grabbing our neighbors,” said McGuire.
DuPage GOP chairman denounces protest
But not everyone agrees with the rally’s message.
Kevin Coyne, chairman of the DuPage County GOP, criticized the protests, describing the “No Kings” theme as ironic.
“We just see a lot of hypocrisy and irony in the message. The reality is we have a governor here, JB Pritzker, who has effectively bought our entire political system with inherited wealth. He governs very heavy-handed…He has acted as a king while he’s been governor,” said Coyne.
He added that recent moves by the Trump administration, particularly regarding ICE, have been necessary to protect U.S. citizens, noting the murder of Loyola student Sheridan Gorman last week.
Coyne arranged for trucks with signs denouncing Pritzker to be driven near the Naperville protest and others in DuPage County. One sign read, “Say No to Pritzker, The Tax King.”
“Illinois is last in everything. We’re failing in everything. We are overtaxed. Our businesses are leaving. Our people are leaving,” said Coyne. “It’s counterproductive to try and blame the world on Donald Trump when the reality is we’ve been overwhelmingly run by Democrats for an extended period of time, and look at where we are.”
Saturday’s demonstration comes amid the war in Iran and ICE deployments to some major U.S. airports, including O’Hare International Airport.
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