Thousands of protesters took to the rain-soaked streets of downtown St. Louis for the “No Kings” march on Oct. 18, 2025, to advocate for administrative change as part of a nationwide event.
The protest lasted from 1 to 3 p.m., with its route beginning at Keiner Park Plaza and occupying Market Street, Washington Avenue and Broadway. It was one of over a dozen marches in the St. Louis region.
Several protesters marched in costumes or touted signs. They followed organizers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation who played drums and led constant chants. Calls of “Black lives matter,” “free free Palestine,” “no ICE or police” and more echoed through the crowd for hours.
The “No Kings” movement held its first mass protest on June 14, 2025 in correspondence with a military parade held on the same day in Washington, D.C. The national movement gets its name from organizers’ and participants’ view that President Donald Trump and his administration have implemented authoritarian policies. Iyamu A., a Washington University student who chose to go by an abbreviated name, explained Trump’s specific actions that motivated him to protest.
“Even people I know are like, ‘Yeah my grant is gone, my research is gone, this job is just evaporated because of what Trump did.’ That’s terrible. And the Ukraine stuff is absolutely despicable and disgusting,” Iyamu A. said.
He also cited the consolidation of executive power and cuts to programs like USAID as “gross” abuses of power that require attention.
Many Saint Louis University students attended the protest to voice the administration’s negative impacts on their lives. Angel Flores, a graduate history student, expressed fear over losing his Diversity, Equity and Inclusion fellowship.
“I earned that, it was not a gift. I had to study English for 20 years and … had to have good grades all my academic life in order to apply for this grant,” Flores said. “Every day I wonder, ‘Is this the last day that I will be studying at SLU?’ Because if they put, like, a moratorium on all DEI programs, including private schools, then what’s gonna happen to my education?”
For some attendees, protesting meant standing up for their careers. Diana Rice of the Association of School Librarians came from Kansas City, Missouri, to oppose the rise in book bans across the country.
“We want all of our students to be represented in the books that we’re providing them,” Rice said. “We want them all to be reflected, we want books to be their window into the world.”
For others, like local mom Aubrey Brown, recent policies are extremely concerning to themselves or their families.
“I am here for my ten-year-old daughter,” Brown said. “She said something to me the other day that was incredibly alarming. She said, ‘Mom, I’m worried that I’m not gonna get to be an adult,’ and I said, ‘Why would you say that?’ and she said, ‘Between climate change and Donald Trump, I just don’t know if I’m gonna make it.’ And I’m not gonna allow that to happen.”
Many local groups rallied at an action festival prior to the protest, bringing attention to their campaigns and petitions. Chris H., interim vice president of Veterans for Peace in St. Louis, shared his concerns for the genocide in Palestine.
“This government’s continued complicity in genocide I find highly disturbing because … if they’re gonna condone it there, they’re gonna condone it here,” Chris H. said.
John Carroll, a SLU alumnus representing Not Another Nickel, described how the group passed a ceasefire agreement through the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and now seeks signatures for a petition demanding an end to monetary aid in human rights violations within St. Louis.
“People power is how we will win this fight,” Carroll said. “We know that the majority of Americans and the majority of St. Louisans don’t want to see the U.S. supporting, financially supporting, a genocide in Gaza. We don’t want that. It’s very clear that we’re on the right side and the popular side here.”
Other groups included Community Life Line, Moms Demand Action and the M.I.C.A Project. Lacie Jett of PROMO, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ legislation in Missouri, said that her organization rallied for “Visibility and connectivity and collaboration. It’s gonna take all of us to move forward and it’s important that every organization, every person that is here is here for … a common goal.”
The festival featured speeches from Missouri state representatives Ray Reed and Marty Joe Murray and former U.S. representative Cori Bush. They emphasized the importance of local action and fulfilling a duty to win against tyranny. JD Dixon also spoke of the PSL’s goals beyond the protest.
“It is time for us to get unconventional, it is time for us to take off work, on Wednesdays and Tuesdays, and come out here in the hundreds and the thousands and shut everything down,” Dixon said. “It is time for us to hurt them in the pockets and it is time for us to take strikes and not go to work and take those sacrifices.”
The protest was marked by a lack of counter protesters or police altercations. This, combined with the large turnout despite the rain, was an encouraging sign for many.
“It is absolutely hopeful — which is the foundation of any revolution — it is absolutely hopeful to see thousands of people from all parts of Missouri and Illinois joining us here in St. Louis today. It means that people are getting tired, people are getting angry and people are educating themselves,” Flores said.
Chris H. echoed this sentiment. “When you get thousands of people coming out on a day like this, it gives me a lot of hope for the future,” he said. “Hopefully we can push back enough to really make a difference.”
