More than 2,000 people gathered in Anchorage’s Town Square Park Saturday afternoon as part of the national No Kings rallies held in opposition to President Donald Trump and his policies.
Erin Jackson-Hill, executive director of advocacy group Stand Up Alaska, led the rally. She spoke about the recent influx of evacuees from Western Alaska due to flooding, and laid the blame firmly on Trump.
“He took his chainsaws to NOAA and blinded us to the weather,” Jackson-Hill said. “He took an ax to $20 million appropriated by Congress to protect coastal Alaskan communities from flooding, eroding our ability to defend against the sea.”
Other prominent speakers included Democratic state Sen. Löki Tobin, Anchorage Assembly member Erin Baldwin Day and Democratic candidate for governor Tom Begich.
As the bulk of the crowd packed the park, dozens of rallygoers lined Fifth and Sixth avenues waving signs and receiving supportive honks from passing cars.
Robin Beebee said she’s been to multiple political rallies, including some during Trump’s first term in office. She said these rallies remind her that she’s not alone in her opposition to the president’s actions.
“The bad news that seems to come down every day, it feels often like you can’t do anything about it,” Beebee said. “But seeing everyone else come out here, I feel supported by everyone else and it gives me motivation to kind of keep calling people and trying to make a difference.”
Alaskans turned out for No Kings protests across more than a dozen communities on Saturday.
The rally site in Sitka coincided with the annual reenactment of the ceremony in 1867 when Russia, then ruled by a czar, transferred ownership of Alaska to the United States.
That history wasn’t lost on 84-year-old Jerry Deppa.
“We put people in power and we take people out of power,” Deppa said. “No czars, no kings. No!”
Local reporters estimated protest crowds from a few dozen in Unalaska and Nome to hundreds in Sitka and Ketchikan.
See photos from rallies around the state below:
KCAW’s Hope McKenney contributed to this report.
