Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Downtown Chico on Saturday to march in a “No Kings” protest.
Saturday’s protest was peaceful but passionate, with homemade signs layered with political satire addressed to President Donald Trump, and slogans rejecting recurrent themes of dictatorship, xenophobia and fascism.
Protesters’ signs ranged from simple cardboard signs to elaborate poster boards packed with information and photographs.
Politically symbolic items were also a common sighting, with some protesters displaying upside down American flags signaling a nation in distress, and many waving peace symbol flags.
Saturday’s demonstration was organized by Indivisible Chico. It mirrors other No Kings protests in cities across the nation, which have been taking place since June.
It is aimed at opposing excessive overreach of presidential power and rejecting authoritarian rule, according to Indivisible Chico’s website.
At 10 a.m., protesters gathered at a local Chico landmark, the “Our Hands” sculpture, to begin the march.
Protesters followed a route through key streets downtown and passed by the Saturday morning market and Chico’s city plaza.
The first No Kings protest in Chico was on June 14 — President Donald Trump’s Birthday — which drew thousands of people, according to North State Public Radio.
Protesters chanted as they moved through downtown and were met with a cascading symphony of car horns honking in reciprocation.
Several chants echoed throughout the march. One primary chant started with protesters cueing the crowd with, “show me what democracy looks like!” and the crowd responded, “this is what democracy looks like!”
Business owners, patrons and people going about their day downtown stopped to watch and pulled out phones to record as the streets filled with protesters.
Darius Marmol can be reached at [email protected].
tfiagkua // Oct 20, 2025 at 9:42 am
Everything was great except the maga trash in the hella ugly red ford diesel extended cab speeding right next to old lady protesters and blasting diesel smoke from their illegally modified p.o.s. Chico police were nowhere around of course. Only in a redneck county like ours would the police look the other way while the lives of the elderly are put at great risk by brain dead sycophants of prezzy sh** for brains.