Were the No Kings Day protests largely peaceful?
Executive summary
Most major outlets, civil-liberties groups and organizers described No Kings Day (Oct. 18, 2025) as largely peaceful, with organizers claiming as many as 7 million participants and groups like the ACLU calling the day “peaceful, lawful protest” [1] [2]. Multiple news organizations — NPR, CNN, BBC, The New York Times and Britannica — reported that the demonstrations were largely or overwhelmingly peaceful, though some local confrontations, police responses and a handful of viral threatening videos complicated the picture [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8].
1. Mass turnout, dominant peaceful frame
Organizers and many national outlets emphasized the scale and peaceful character of the day: organizers and affiliated groups estimated millions (organizers’ 7 million figure cited by No Kings and partners) and described widespread nonviolent turnout; NPR summarized that “the protests were largely peaceful,” and the ACLU framed the day as a “day of peaceful, lawful protest” [2] [3] [1]. CNN and BBC likewise reported that many large cities saw peaceful demonstrations and in several places there were no protest-related arrests [4] [5].
2. Scholarly and independent verdicts: “overwhelmingly peaceful” but with caveats
Academic and independent analysts echoed the peaceful assessment while noting nuance. Brookings’ sampling of participants called the demonstrations “overwhelmingly peaceful” even as its research tracked rising sympathy for political violence among a subset of participants — a reminder that survey evidence can show peaceful behavior on the street alongside growing support for force in other contexts [9].
3. Local flashpoints and police tactics complicate the narrative
Authoritative overviews caution that “largely peaceful” does not mean uniformly calm. Britannica and other outlets documented confrontations in cities such as Portland, Los Angeles and Seattle where police used dispersal tactics including tear gas and reports described clashes, mounted police and baton use tied to prior unrest and localized clashes around ICE facilities [7]. CNN and other outlets recorded isolated incidents — for example, a physical altercation in Marietta — showing that small-scale violence and confrontations occurred amid the broader peaceful turnout [4].
4. Viral clips and partisan framing changed perceptions
Even while mainstream reporting emphasized peace, viral social-media clips and partisan outlets amplified threatening or pro-violence messages from a minority of attendees. Fox News and others noted that “viral social media videos showing threatening behavior” overshadowed much of the coverage, and conservative leaders had warned of Antifa connections and mobilized security responses ahead of the day [8] [10]. The White House and some Republican figures framed the rallies as orchestrated or dangerous, prompting National Guard mobilizations in several states despite large-scale peaceful conduct [5] [11].
5. Law enforcement, arrests and official counts: uneven reporting
Local police statements ranged from noting no protest-related arrests in New York to reporting isolated incidents elsewhere; the NYPD said more than 100,000 people “peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights” across five boroughs, while other cities reported traffic closures and some law-enforcement dispersals [10] [4]. There is no single, centralized tally of arrests or injuries in the provided sources; outlets focused on the overall peacefulness while documenting exceptions [3] [6].
6. Competing narratives and implicit agendas
Organizers, civil-liberties groups and sympathetic outlets pushed a unifying message of nonviolence and family-friendly protest — an account that supports mobilization and frames opposition as overblown [1] [6]. Conservative outlets and some administration officials emphasized threats, viral clips and the need for security, an approach that amplified fear and justified pre-emptive deployments [8] [5]. Both frames are present in the reporting; each serves partisan aims: one to legitimize mass dissent, the other to delegitimize it.
7. Bottom line and limits of the reporting
Available sources converge on the assessment that No Kings Day was “largely” or “overwhelmingly” peaceful in most locations, with millions participating peacefully [3] [9] [1]. At the same time, localized clashes, police uses of force and viral threats were real and shaped public perception [7] [4] [8]. The sources provided do not include a comprehensive national count of arrests, injuries or a dataset that would allow a statistical estimation of the exact share of events that were entirely peaceful; that information is not found in current reporting (not found in current reporting).