CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Crowds filled the edge of downtown Cedar Rapids on Saturday, June 14, 2025, in one of about 2,000 “No Kings” demonstrations held nationwide.
More than 1,000 demonstrators stretched from the middle of the Eighth Avenue Bridge, past the railroad tracks near Fourth Street SE, holding signs, chanting and waving American flags in the counter-demonstration to the military parade in Washington, D.C. that President Trump has long wanted.
With a price tag of at least $45 million, not including cleanup, police coverage and damage to streets, the military parade takes place on Trump’s 79th birthday, and while touted as marking the 250th anniversary of the Army, has been compared to events under dictatorships in North Korea, Russia and elsewhere.
Some of the demonstrators took issue with the price of the parade amidst looming cuts to Medicaid and other programs that provide health care to millions of low-income Americans.
Others held signs opposing immigration raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, comparing ICE to Gestapo police in Nazi Germany.
A wide range of children to older adults took part in the Cedar Rapids protest, encouraging motorists to honk in support of the demonstration on busy Eighth Avenue.
Some carried upside-down flags as a sign of distress.
Under sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, the two-hour Cedar Rapids demonstration remained peaceful and turned into a march down Second Street SE in New Bohemia at the end.
See photos from a previous protest in Cedar Rapids and more from the “No Kings” demonstration, below:
[…] photos from a previous Cedar Rapids demonstration and more from the ICE protest, […]