On Saturday, Oct. 18, hundreds of Middletown residents, community leaders, University students, and faculty gathered in Middletown to take part in a nationwide series of protests against the Trump administration.
The demonstrations, which were dubbed the “No Kings” protests, were organized primarily by the grassroots progressive organization Indivisible. However, over 200 organizations including unions, non-profits, and other political groups signed on as partners to the protests. This weekend’s protests were the second of their kind, following another series of “No Kings” protests held on June 14.
According to the protest organizers, over 7 million individuals attended more than 2,700 events across the nation. Indivisible said that they had trained over 10,000 individuals planning to attend the protests in de-escalation techniques, and the protests remained peaceful.
Middletown’s protest took place at Harbor Park, located between the Connecticut River and Route 9. While most in attendance congregated near the river to listen to speakers, many others lined the highway holding up signs, eliciting honks of approval from those driving by.
This round of “No Kings” protests came as the the Trump administration has wielded its powers increasingly aggressively in both domestic and foreign contexts.
In the past weeks, Trump has ordered the National Guard to deploy in cities including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland in response to sporadic, non-violent protests against immigration crackdowns led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—often against the wishes of local leadership. Trump has ordered military strikes on several alleged drug-trafficking boats in international waters without congressional authorization, claiming that the individuals manning the boats were enemy combatants. And as a government shutdown has continued into its third week, Trump’s budget chief has authorized sweeping cuts of federal agencies and spending in Democrat-led states, while carving out exceptions in funding for military pay, farmers’ benefits, and some spending in Republican-led states.
Protesters in Middletown said that they had gathered to push back against Trump’s authoritarian actions, and they held signs characterizing Trump as an autocrat, a fascist, and a Nazi. Pithy slogans included “My Favorite Season: The Fall of Fascism” and “Hate Won’t Make the U.S. Great.”
“There’s a lot of people with really good signs and people who seem to really care,” Amelia Colombo, a recent University of Connecticut graduate who also attended the June protest, said. “It’s good to see that people want to come out and not just ignore what’s going on.”
The crowd heard several speakers at the protest, including Connecticut State Senator Matt Lesser, whose district encompasses Middletown, and interim Middletown Mayor Gene Nocera.
“My point today is to be here in support,” Nocera, who is currently running to be elected to a full term as mayor, said. “It is beyond a crisis in our country, and we’re faced with some dreadful, dreadful decisions that are being made every day that are trickling down to our local government.”
Other local leaders spoke at the protest, including Rev. Edward Ford Jr. of Shiloh Christian Church in Middletown, who previously served on the Middletown City Council.
“I have been involved in politics for some time, and studying divinity at Yale has really given me the tools and language to try to communicate an advocacy of justice for people,” Ford said. “I’ve always done the work on the ground, but being able to actually come to a place like this, where there’s organizers and mobilizers, and put that work alongside others’ efforts, that’s pretty much how I prepared. Some of the things were extemporaneous, because it’s really coming from a place of my lived experience, growing up in this town and being involved in advocacy and politics for quite some time.”
Some didn’t take an active role in the demonstration but came out of concern for the direction of the country.
“I served in the United States Navy for 11 years,” Dean Krupa, a candidate for the Middletown Board of Education, said. “I was born in this community. My parents were born in this community. And I just really don’t know how to describe how upset I am seeing our current leadership in office…. This is a chance to come out, not really wave a flag or a sign but just show that I’m watching, I’m available, and, when the need arises, I would be willing to participate. I guess this is the start. We have to get out of our houses and into things like this.”
Many University students also showed up to the “No Kings” protests.
“There are so many people in this country and in this school who are terrified and horrified of what’s going on right now, and I want us to come together and take action in ways that are safe and that lift each other up to fight this very real danger that’s going on with the government in this country,” Sasha Lovell ’28 said.
Some of the University students in attendance felt a special need to participate due to what they view as an increasing threat from the Trump administration.
“I came here because I very much believe in what the protest stands for, in that we say no to authoritarianism, no to violations against democracy, and I came also as an international student to show that international students can protest,” an international student, who was granted anonymity due to concerns around visa revocations, said. “We might need to take extra measures, but we also live in this country for a short amount of time, and we are also impacted by these decisions.”
Despite the political situation, participants noted the high turnout and energy at the protest.
“The energy is really powerful,” Ford said. “I think that it’s exciting to see so many people who are pro-democracy, who really want to see our values, our rights, equity and justice continue in this country when those things are being trampled on. You have a lot of people who are speaking up. The people and their voices are speaking up to say no. We stand for our constitutional values, we stand for our democracy, and we’re going to stand for equity and justice, and seeing that amongst all people of different stripes here today is inspiring.”
Spencer Landers can be reached at sklanders@wesleyan.edu.
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