City Hall to See Thousands of Protesters Saturday in Nationwide “No Kings” Demonstration
Published on Friday, October 17, 2025 | 5:23 am
An earlier “No Kings” protest in Pasadena saw an orderly crowd of more than 4,000 demonstrating in Pasadena on Saturday, June 14, 2025, as part of the nationwide anti-Trump, anti-ICE NO KINGS DAY protest. [Paul Takizawa / Pasadena Now] Organizers expect more than 7,000 demonstrators to gather at Pasadena City Hall Saturday afternoon as part of a nationwide “No Kings Day of Action” protest coordinated by San Gabriel Foothills Indivisible, a local resistance group that began early this year in a Pasadena living room.
The rally, scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m., is one of approximately 2,500 events planned across the country, according to the group’s background report. It marks the sixth monthly protest organized by SGFI since April and follows June’s “No Kings I” event, which organizer Patrick R. Briggs said “drew up to 10,000 people.” (City estimates were lower, putting the crowd more than 4,000.)
Saturday’s demonstration is part of a broader national mobilization responding to what organizers describe as “the increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Trump administration,” according to materials from the No Kings organization.
SGFI’s planning documents emphasize nonviolent protest protocols, including a weapons ban, deployment of trained safety monitors, multiple online trainings, and day-of reviews with volunteers. The group said it maintains regular contact with Pasadena Police and City Hall to avoid conflicts with other events and to manage crowd logistics.
“We took seriously the ideals of Indivisible to block the Trump 2.0 agenda, become leaders in a sustained, peaceful, non-violent protest movement and to push our elected representatives to fight back as strongly against this un-American, cruel, authoritarian regime,” Briggs said.
Speakers scheduled for the Pasadena rally include U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, Assemblymember John Harabedian, and Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo. Dr. Sara Sadhwani, a Pomona College political scientist, is expected to speak in support of Proposition 50.
SGFI, one of 2,500 chapters in the Indivisible network, coordinates nationally through weekly calls hosted by Indivisible.org.
“Each chapter maintains its own voice and focus,” Briggs said. “Our positive relationships with City Hall and Pasadena PD help us tremendously; they made all the difference on No Kings I.”
The group said it draws members from Pasadena, La Crescenta, La Cañada, and Monrovia, and other local communities, and has collaborated with Sierra Madre’s Rooted in Resistance, DenaResistance.org—the organizer of Tesla Takedown protests in Old Pasadena—and Swing Left San Gabriel Valley. National partners for the October 18 mobilization include ACLU, MoveOn, SEIU, and the American Federation of Teachers.
“One struggle we have is that fewer people are choosing to RSVP online; we have had to guess based on past experience, what the crowd size will be – preparing accordingly,” Briggs explained.
SGFI’s previous rallies include “Hands Off,” “May Day Strong,” “June’s No Kings I,” “July’s Good Trouble,” and “September’s Labor Day – Workers Over Billionaires.”
“We don’t get paid to do this, contrary to the propaganda coming from this Republican Party. We are being good American citizens, in the best possible way, through self-sacrifice and commitment to neighbor and country,” Briggs stated.
“Be safe, joyful, kind, and creative in your resistance,” Briggs said.
For David Cross, Call (626) 737-8486 Ext. 8
Thousands Rally at ‘No Kings Day’ Protest in Pasadena
Part of thousands of nationwide demonstrations against what organizers call a “slide toward authoritarian rule”
By EDDIE RIVERA
Published on Sunday, October 19, 2025 | 5:38 am
Beneath a clear and hot October sky, several thousand people gathered Saturday on the steps of Pasadena City Hall for “No Kings Day,” one of more than 2,500 similar demonstrations across the United States to protest what organizers called a slide toward authoritarian rule.
The event, organized by Indivisible San Gabriel Valley, drew a diverse crowd—families with strollers, retirees in sunhats, and students waving homemade placards that read “No King but the People” and “Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport,” along with a good-sized number of “F— Trump” signs.
The peaceful demonstration featured live music from the local band the NextDoors, and speeches from a roster of civic and political leaders, including Representative Judy Chu, State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez, Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, City Councilmember Rick Cole, and Sara Sadhwani, a Pomona College political science professor and former member of California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission.
“This is a continuation of what we as a country are doing to resist this authoritarian, fascist regime,” Chu told the crowd, urging participants to see the event as “practice—building our muscles of protest and resistance.”
She called for peaceful but determined civic action, saying, “Power does not give up without a fight. Our anger will motivate us, but it’s community that will keep us together.”
Organizers said the “No Kings” movement was designed to underscore democratic participation in the face of what they described as escalating threats to equality, healthcare, and voting rights.
Indivisible SGV’s Patrick Briggs, a local activist and emcee for the rally, opened by inviting attendees to look at one another and ask, “Why are you here today?” He answered his own question: “Because we love one another. We love our neighbors as ourselves. We are about community—and this is how Americans behave when they’re being good citizens.”
Standing before a sea of flags and hand-painted signs, Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo shared his own story as an immigrant who arrived from Mexico at age four.
“I know what it’s like to struggle,” he said. “And I know what it’s like to watch your parents work every day so you can have an education.” Gordo compared the crowd’s mobilization to labor organizing: “Bad managers make the best organizers. Our country is being mismanaged today. So here we are—organizing.”
The day’s speakers invoked both patriotic and moral themes.
Reverend Dr. Dottie Escobedo-Frank, a Methodist bishop, offered a blessing for “peace, justice, and fierce resolve,” while warning of “the violence of a regime that snatches peaceful, hardworking people up without due process.”
State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez framed the protest as a defense of democracy against an “unprecedented transfer of wealth” and efforts to “rig this election.”
“The administration wants us to believe that we are powerless,” she said, “but we know that we have the power—millions of us.”
Sara Sadhwani, addressing the crowd late in the program, drew on her experience overseeing California’s redistricting process.
“No president is king,” she said. “We used a community-based approach to draw fair lines—but none of it matters if elections are being rigged elsewhere.” She urged the audience to support Proposition 50, a statewide measure she described as “temporary and extraordinary—an act to defend fair elections.”
Many protesters wore inflatable costumes or carried whimsical props—a nod, organizers said, to “joyful resistance.”
After speeches concluded, the crowd marched from City Hall and lined both sides of Colorado Boulevard from Old Pasadena to Los Robles Avenue.
Anti-Trump chants echoed against storefronts as the vast majority if passing drivers honked their horns in support.
For some, the demonstration symbolized a broader awakening.
“These protests aren’t just happening in big cities,” Chu noted. “They’re in small towns and even in Trump-leaning districts. This will be the largest protest day the U.S. has ever had.”
The City Hall rally closed with the singing “America the Beautiful,” led by councilmember Rick Cole, who emphasized that the protestors were there, because “We love America.”
The crowd sang, “and crown thy good, with brotherhood,” as an affirmation of what speakers called the day’s central message: resistance not out of anger, but out of love for the country itself.
For David Cross, Call (626) 737-8486 Ext. 8
