Fact check: Which cities saw the largest No Kings Day protests in 2025?

1. Summary of the results

Based on the analyses provided, Los Angeles emerged as the city with the largest No Kings Day protests in 2025. The crowd estimates for Los Angeles varied significantly across sources, ranging from over 30,000 people ^[1] to as high as 200,000 people ^{[2] [3]}. One source even mentioned estimates reaching up to 100,000 participants ^[1].

Philadelphia appeared to be the second-largest protest location, with one source reporting 100,000 attendees ^[3] and another describing it as the "flagship rally" location ^[4]. Philadelphia was consistently mentioned as a major protest hub across multiple analyses ^{[4] [5] [6]}.

Other cities with significant protest turnouts included:

• Seattle - 70,000 people ^[3]
• New York City - over 50,000 people ^{[7] [3]}
• Austin, Texas - mentioned as having large-scale gatherings ^[5]
• Portland, Oregon - noted for major crowds ^[5]

Additional cities with notable protests included Chicago, Houston, Denver ^[8], San Diego, Long Beach, Anaheim ^[2], Minnesota, and Dallas ^[6].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The analyses reveal several important contextual elements not addressed in the original question:

Violence and Police Response: Multiple sources documented that these protests were not uniformly peaceful. Los Angeles specifically experienced significant violence, with police using tear gas and flash-bangs on protesters ^[2], and reports of violence by both police and sheriffs ^[1]. However, many protests in other cities remained peaceful ^{[5] [6]}.

Scale and Organization: The protests were part of a coordinated nationwide movement, with organizers claiming over 5 million participants across the entire United States ^[3]. This suggests a highly organized effort rather than spontaneous local demonstrations.

Political Context: The protests were explicitly described as "Anti-Trump" demonstrations ^[6] occurring "amid growing Trump tensions" ^[4], indicating these were politically motivated events with specific opposition to former President Trump.

Timing Significance: The protests were scheduled ahead of a military parade ^[6], suggesting they were timed to coincide with or counter a specific government event.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question appears neutral in its framing, simply asking for factual information about protest locations and sizes. However, there are several considerations regarding the reliability of the data:

Conflicting Crowd Estimates: The analyses show dramatic variations in crowd size estimates for the same cities. For Los Angeles alone, estimates ranged from 30,000 to 200,000 people, representing a nearly seven-fold difference. This suggests either significant bias in reporting or fundamental disagreements about methodology for counting participants.

Source Attribution: The crowd size figures appear to come from protest organizers themselves ^{[7] [3]}, which could introduce bias toward inflated numbers, as organizers have incentives to maximize perceived turnout for political impact.

Selective Reporting: Some sources focused heavily on violence and police response ^{[1] [2]} while others emphasized peaceful demonstrations ^[6], suggesting potential editorial bias in how different outlets chose to frame the same events.

The question itself does not contain apparent misinformation, but the available data sources show significant inconsistencies that make definitive ranking of cities by protest size challenging to establish with complete accuracy.