Fact check: How many people attended the no king protests?

1. Summary of the results

The exact number of protesters varies significantly between sources, but all confirm massive nationwide participation. While organizers and some sources claim "millions" attended ^{[1] [2]}, one source specifically states that over 5 million people participated ^[3]. The protests took place across approximately 2,000 locations nationwide ^{[4] [2]}.

Specific city attendance numbers reported:

• Los Angeles: Reports vary between 200,000 ^{[1] [3]} and "over 20,000" ^[4]
• New York City: Around 50,000 ^{[1] [4]}
• Dallas: 11,000 ^[1]
• Salt Lake City: 10,000 ^[4]
• Philadelphia: 80,000 ^[3]
• Madison, Wisconsin: 15,000 ^[3]

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several important contextual elements were missing from the original question:

• The protests occurred across all 50 states ^[3]
• The demonstrations were primarily peaceful, though there were some isolated confrontations with law enforcement ^[4]
• The protests were specifically organized in opposition to perceived authoritarian actions by the Trump administration ^[2]
• Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, characterized the turnout as "amazing" with peaceful participation ^[2]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The varying attendance numbers across sources highlight potential reporting biases:

• Protest organizers tend to report higher numbers ^[1], which could be inflated to demonstrate greater support
• Different sources provide significantly different numbers for the same cities (e.g., Los Angeles varying from 20,000 to 200,000), suggesting possible political bias in reporting ^{[1] [4]}
• Organizations like Public Citizen, which helped organize the protests, have a vested interest in reporting high turnout numbers to demonstrate the success of their movement ^[2]