Fact check: Were the No Kings protests this weekend peaceful?

1. Summary of the results

The No Kings protests were predominantly peaceful with some notable exceptions. While organizers explicitly planned and emphasized nonviolent action ^{[1] [2]}, several serious incidents did occur, including:

• A shooting in Salt Lake City with life-threatening injuries ^[3]
• A vehicular assault in Virginia ^[4]
• Clashes in Portland requiring tear gas deployment ^[4]
• Los Angeles police issued dispersal orders due to objects being thrown at officers ^[3]

This creates a contrast between the intended peaceful nature and the actual events that transpired. While Public Citizen's Lisa Gilbert claimed "absolutely no violence" ^[5], multiple credible sources documented violent incidents.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several crucial contextual elements were present:

• Far-right groups were actively planning to disrupt the protests, sharing threatening messages and maps of protest locations ^{[6] [7]}
• The Proud Boys specifically were involved in planning disruptions ^[7]
• Many major cities, including San Diego, Chicago, and Los Angeles, maintained peaceful demonstrations despite threats ^[4]
• Organizers had established clear guidelines prohibiting weapons and emphasizing de-escalation ^[2]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The simple question "Were the protests peaceful?" oversimplifies a complex situation. Different groups benefit from different narratives:

• Protest organizers benefit from emphasizing the peaceful nature, as demonstrated by Lisa Gilbert's statement of "absolutely no violence" ^[5], despite documented incidents
• Far-right groups benefit from emphasizing violence to delegitimize the protests, as evidenced by their pre-protest threatening messages ^[6]
• Law enforcement agencies might benefit from emphasizing both peaceful and violent aspects to justify both their presence and their responses to incidents

The reality appears to be that while most demonstrations remained peaceful, characterizing the entire movement as either entirely peaceful or violent would be misleading.