Seacoast ‘No Kings’ protesters reject Trump and ‘concentrated power’

“No Kings” protesters gathered in Portsmouth’s Market Square, in Exeter, in Dover, and in more communities around Seacoast New Hampshire and Maine, Saturday, March 28, totaling more than 3,000 locations around the nation. The events were a coordinated demonstration against President Donald Trump’s actions and policies.

The Portsmouth rally featured crowds several people deep for nearly the full length of Congress Street. Many wore costumes and waved signs amid the sounds of music, whistles and car horns blaring. The crowd appeared to be as larger or larger than any of the previous anti-Trump protests in the city since he took office in January 2025.

In Exeter, Niko Papakonstantis, chair of the town’s Select Board, spoke to a large crowd, criticizing “would-be kings” from the steps of the old town hall.

“We reject the idea of concentrated power, whether it comes from the influence of money or the silence of apathy,” he said. “We reject systems that discriminate, abuse power, commit illegal acts, violate our Constitution and attempt to silence the voices of ‘We the people.'”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson earlier this week responded to the planned protests, stating: “The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.”

Portsmouth mom concerned about environment and the future

Jessica Blasko, a Portsmouth resident, showed up in the city’s Market Square to the protest with her two young children.

“I’m really concerned. My family and I are very focused on the natural world and protecting our environment and taking care of our trees and our planet,” she said. She criticized Trump and his administration’s “lack of care or concern for climate change and all the things that are happening in relation to our natural resources.”

She said that’s not the only issue that drove her to attend the rally.

“There are so many things,” Blasko said. “I am out here for the rights of my daughter, as she grows and ages, I am out here because I don’t think our current president’s setting a good example about how to be honest and truthful and how to stand up for what’s important, and right.”

NH rep who fought ICE facility touts democracy in Exeter

New Hampshire state Rep. Wendy Thomas, D-Merrimack, who fought against the Trump administration’s former plan to build an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in her town, was among the speakers in Exeter.

“Moral clarity, real consequences, a united community, relentless pressure and the courage to keep going,” she said, urging protesters to fight for democracy. “That’s how you build power. That’s how you protect your town. That’s how democracy actually works. Because democracy isn’t something that happens somewhere else. It happens right here. In towns like Merrimack. In towns like Exeter. With people like you.”

A call to end ‘deceit, hate, bigotry and murder’

Kirk Simpson and Jim Winters of South Berwick, Maine, attended the Portsmouth protest because “we’ve got to do something. We’ve got to stand up for what’s right,” Simpson said.

“There is so much lying, and so much deceit, and so much hate, and bigotry, and murder. It’s apocalyptic,” Simpson said.

“It’s amazing how fast democracy can crumble,” Winters said. “How delicate that experiment is, and if you don’t stand up for it. … I read somewhere that if we can get 3.8% of the population to protest, then we can make a change. And that really made me say, ‘You know, I’m going to come out, because I want to see a change.’”

Rye sisters say billionaires are dividing the world

Julianna Poirier, from Rye, said she’s come to the last few protests in Portsmouth. The 25-year-old noted her attendance at the March 28 protest was different, as she and her brother “are trying to do something about the large corporations that are being funded, basically rebuilding community, through supporting small businesses. I thought today was exposure therapy for me to come out to the protest.” She said her effort to support businesses will start March 30 via the online platform Substack.

“The amount of wealth that the billionaires have accrued, I’m very much against that,” she said. “And I don’t like how much they are corrupting our elections. … (If) we move money away from them, we can actually have the power to do the things that we want to do.” She said this includes enacting “more environmentally friendly laws, protecting vulnerable people, ending wars.”

Her sister, Ally Poirier, 24, agreed, adding, “There’s so many people who need the help and they’re just hoarding all this money, it doesn’t make sense.” She said it’s driving a “loss of human connection and community, I think it’s really dividing the world really, but especially in America.”

‘Horrified’ by war on Iran and more

Anna Mallory, a Dover resident, said she came out to the protest because “I’m absolutely horrified at the state of our country, and the distraction, and the lying, and the violence we’re seeing, particularly by ICE.”

Somersworth resident Ben Griffith said he’s been “completely horrified … particularly the lack of any sort of checks and balances, oversight. We shouldn’t have a king.”

Mallory pointed to the war on Iran. “We shouldn’t be having a president declare war all by himself without Congress.”

Portsmouth woman ‘hates’ what Trump has done to nation

Stacey Kamen, from Portsmouth, showed up to the protest with a peacock costume, attracting positive attention from other protesters.

“I hate what’s going on with our country,” she said. “I hate what Donald Trump did to us in the first term, I hate what he’s doing in his second term, I’m absolutely terrified. We need to get this (expletive) out of office before he presses the red button, if you know what I mean.”

She called for the full release of the Epstein files, criticized Trump’s mass deportations effort and the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“I hate what they’ve done to healthcare, as someone whose been on the (Affordable Care Act) since I got to New Hampshire,” she added.

Portsmouth protest attracts people from around region

“We need to take our country back,” said Linda Gould, who drove two hours from Claremont, NH, to attend the Portsmouth rally. “Everything is going in the wrong direction. Middle class people are starving, they can’t feed their kids, they can’t pay their rent, everything is out of control. Money is going to places where it doesn’t need to go, rights are being trampled on, people are being arrested and murdered. It’s got to stop.”

Derek Laroche, from East Providence, Rhode Island, said he was in Portsmouth to protest “all of it. None of this is normal. … It’s a big mess. … At first, it was just ICE, then it was the war. It’s all fallen apart; you can’t pinpoint one thing. It all has to change.”

Material from local staff reports and USA TODAY contributed.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald. Reporting by Sarah Donovan.