‘No Kings’ rallies this Saturday: Greenport, Sag Harbor, Riverhead to host events

Protesters will march through East End towns on Saturday in “No Kings” rallies, part of nationwide demonstrations opposing Trump administration policies.

Roughly 2,500 communities are expected to take to the streets, an increase from 1,400 last October when an estimated 7 million people participated in “the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history,” according to Riverhead No Kings march coordinator John McAuliff. The first No Kings rally was held last June.

Mr. McAuliff criticized recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on the East End, which he said has devastated the “peaceful family lives of immigrants with no criminal record and threaten the local economy.”

The longtime activist also said the Trump administration’s military operations in Venezuela and Iran are a “violation of U.S. and international law.”

Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), who represents the East End, said in a statement to Times Review regarding the upcoming events, “Peaceful protest is an American right, but concern about executive power shouldn’t be selective … Where were the ‘No Kings’ rallies when Presidents Obama and Biden bypassed Congress on military strikes, or when Biden circumvented Congress and used taxpayer dollars to unconstitutionally pay off student loans?” 

Saturday’s marches will include Riverhead and Greenport students. Greenport High School senior Faith Welch and Riverhead High School senior Ollie Earl, who organized an anti-ICE walkout at his school in January, will lead the procession from Riverhead High School.

“I fundamentally disagree with the administration’s complete lack of care or regard for human dignity,” Ollie said, referencing “mass Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests that disrupt communities and make people feel threatened and go after people who came to this country in search of all of their own American dreams.”

Ollie also criticized President Trump’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as the administration’s involvement in the war in Iran.

The Greenport rally will be held in Mitchell Park from 10 a.m. to noon. Sag Harbor’s No Kings rally event will be at Steinbeck Park from 11 a.m. to noon.

The march in Riverhead will begin at noon at Riverhead High School and continue to Riverhead Town Hall and then to the New York State Supreme Court on Griffing Avenue, where a rally is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. 

For more information about the Riverhead March, visit tinyurl.com/RHNoKings.