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By Miriam Raftery
Photos,left: Aerial image of No Kings rally downtown, courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News, and protestor in El Cajon, photo by Miriam Raftery.
June 15, 2025 (San Diego) – At least 60,000 people participated in “No Kings” protests in downtown San Diego, according to the San Diego Police department. Local organizers estimate even more, around 80,000. Times of San Diego has a time-lapse video of San Diego's march.
In addition, thousands more protested at No Kings events in other local communities, including East County, with around 1,000 in El Cajon and several hundred in Ramona. Photos posted on social media show numerous other rallies with hundreds or more at each.
In El Cajon, protesters lined both sides of Fletcher Parkway from one end of Parkway Plaza regional shopping mall. Chants of “This is what democracy looks like!” filled the air. (photo, right)
The majority of vehicles driving past honked and waved in support., startling in a city with an all-Republican city council.
Tables at the rally were set up to gather signatures on petitions to recall El Cajon Councilman Phil Ortiz, the swing vote in support of a measure allowing the city’s police to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
Also present were organizers of a recall effort seeking to oust Grossmont Union High School District trustees who voted to fire dozens of teachers, counselors and librarians.
El Cajon protesters included numerous signs critical of the president’s actions perceived as undemocratic and uncostitutional, as well as anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) signs, a veteran with a sign proclaiming “I fought for freedom, not fascism) and a woman whose sign read, “Not a paid protester. I hate Trump for free.”
San Diego Police Department, in a media release, praised protesters for remaining “peaceful and respectful”, also voicing appreciation to event organizers and community leaders. As of yesterday afternoon, there were no arrests and no reports of property damage or injuries related to the protests, SDPD confirmed.
“The San Diego Police Department remains committed to protecting the rights of all individuals to assemble and exercise their freedom of speech,” the release stated. “We thank our res
idents for their collaboration and the strong sense of shared responsibility that made this asafe day for our city.”
The No Kings protests drew many millions of people nationwide on Saturday, the same day that President Donald Trump held a military parade estimated to cost up to $45 million to honor the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, also celebrating Trump’s 79th birthday.
“This is the kind of vanity parade we would expect to see in Russia or North Korea, not in a democracy” said Allison Gill, award-winning podcaster and a speaker at the San Diego rally.
““No matter what the parade is called, our democracy is under attack. Donald Trump and his allies are dismantling democratic institutions to consolidate power and money at the expense of the rest of us,” said Wendy Gelernter, one of the event organizers.
Specifically the rallies called for:
- Protection for democratic institutions, civil rights and the rule of law,
- An end to efforts to centralize executive power as laid out in Project 2025
- Transparency, accountability, and truth over chaos, cruelty and corruption
- Elected leadership and good governance that serves the people — not personal power, personal enrichment or spectacle.
“It is unconscionable to spend this kind of money when the veterans in our area are being stripped of their benefits to reduce government spending, and budgets are being slashed for health services, food programs for hungry children, and vital medical research at San Diego area universities,” added Misty O’Healy of Indivisible49.
Brian Lafft
ery, a local labor leader, carried a sign at the downtown protest reading, “Real American patriots don’t want to be ruled by kings. We literally started a revolution over this 249 years ago!” On Facebook, he posted, “Exhaustion from four straight days of contract ratification did not stop me from marching in today’s No Kings protest downtown. I love my country too much to allow fascism to take over it, and it was a great feeling to see tens of thousands of fellow San Diegans who feel the same way show up along with me."
Around 100 people braved 95-degree heat to protest in Borrego Springs as well.
Photo, left by Mitchell Sterling: No Kings protest in Borrego Springs.
Photos below: Anti-ICE protestors in El Cajon
Comments
Ignorance is bliss.
Nobody is demonstrating to keep violent criminals in the US.
They are demonstrating against things like ICE grabbing people at courthouses before their hearings that could allow them to stay here legally. People like an Afghan who risked his life as a translator for our military and was granted legal status that Trump took away for ALL Afghans with special protected status. He then applied for asylum and was arrested at the San Diego courthouse before his hearing.
They are protesting over friends, neighbors, and workers being seized by ICE and ripped away from their spouses and children, even hard-working people with no record of anything violent, and no criminal convictions or even charges. People who crossed the border seeking a better life, which is only a misdemeanor-not a violent crime,many of whom have lived law-abiding lives as productive members of society here for decades.
They are protesting against masked ICE agents showing up in unmarked vans, refusing to show ID, and snatching people off the street.
They are protesting against ICE agents grabbing parents and leaving their young children unattended in vehicles.
They are protesting against sending people never convicted of a crime to a foreign prison infamous for human rights abuses, where they could be locked up for life with no possibility of freedom--when they have never even had a trial to prove innocence or guit.
They are protesting against some immigrants who committed no crimes being deported to countries where they could be killed-such as Afgans who helped our military being sent back to Afghanistan, where the Taliban will murder them.
They are protesting even critically ill children being deported and denied medical treatment.
All of these things have happened and are well documented. These actions are brutal and inhumane. No decent human being should support any of that.
El Cajon city leadership...
Double standard