As the Trump administration hosted a multimillion-dollar military parade in Washington, D.C., marking the Army's 250th anniversary and the president's 79th birthday, and amid escalating arrests and deportations of immigrants and protests against those aggressive enforcement actions, thousands of Alaskans rallied across the state, joining nationwide "No Kings" demonstrations against Trump.

In Anchorage, a downtown crowd of several thousand people held handmade signs, waved flags and cheered, as cars honked in support during the rally on Saturday, June 14.

Stephanie Schulling held a protest sign reading, "no sign is big enough for all the reasons I'm here."

She said as a social worker, she feels an ethical responsibility to show up and protest "the issues with people being disappeared, the issues with DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency), the issues with the possibility of Medicaid, Social Security ... all those sorts of safety nets going away. It's unthinkable."

Signs and speeches in Anchorage condemned the Trump administration as overreaching its power and authority, and called for protecting democracy and equal rights, including for immigrant and transgender communities.

"People are really, really scared, and I think their fear has turned into action," said Erin Jackson-Hill, an organizer and executive director of Stand Up Alaska, a nonprofit social justice organization.

"In Alaska especially, we really hold on to our freedoms and our independence, and we're not gonna bow down to a king," she said. "And so, the 'No Kings' march is a way to stand up and say, 'We don't have kings in this country, we don't want a king!' The country got founded because we didn't want a king. And we certainly don't want Donald Trump to be the king."

More than 2,000 No Kings protest events were planned on Saturday nationwide. Social media posts show No Kings rallies in at least 24 Alaska communities from Southeast to Southcentral, the Kenai Peninsula to Bethel, and a single protester in the village of Emmonak on the Yukon River holding a sign reading "No Kings, only salmon."

In Southeast, rallies and marches were held in Wrangell, Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Petersburg and Haines.

In Nome, several dozen people demonstrated at the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race. "We have no place for a monarchy or any king-type of government and you know, people wanted to make their voices heard," said Hannah Anderson, a 50-year resident of Nome.

In Homer, a crowd estimated at 600 to 700 rallied downtown, in one of the biggest protests seen by Ron Keffer, a retired educator and participant. "I think this is a moment when this country has had to examine itself, and it's found some rotten spots in the apple, some really rotten spots," Keffer said.

"We have some very unlovely tendencies amongst some parts of our country, more than we realize: the racism, the misogyny ... the antagonism toward immigrants, which is our lifeblood. So, it's a big reckoning. And it's going to make us better. It won't feel good for a while. It's kind of like surgery, it doesn't feel good for a while, but the outcome is going to be good in the long run."

In Palmer, where a few hundred people rallied, safety for demonstrators was the top priority, said Dave Musgrave, an organizer with the activist group Mat-Su United for Progress. He said the group came prepared after there were threats on social media of armed counter-protesters.

"We had 30 peacekeepers who had de-escalation training. We were walking the sidewalks making sure everybody knew what their de-escalation techniques were," he said. "And guess what? The counter-protesters really didn't show up in force, in spite of what they put all over social media."

He said there were about eight counter-protesters there that organizers spoke with amicably, and there was no disruption.

More than 1,000 people rallied under rare sunny skies in Juneau, according to organizers there, with a small group of counter-protesters nearby.

The Alaska Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization. Alaskabeacon.com.