Doyle Park, 11:49 a.m.
Adrienne, who declined to share their name or age to protect their anonymity, said “The President should be following the Constitution and law and order. There are more of us, and we have the power to stop all of the hatred, bigotry and the racism.”
Santa Rosa resident Tara Dickinson said, “We have to fight for our freedom. There’s no authoritarian rule, we’re in a free society. There’s no one person or party that should be controlling everything.”
Cotati, 11:45 a.m.
Katie and Greg, two protesters who declined to share their last names, said “I’m 75, these are my years to put my feet up, and now I have to put them on the ground and protest.”
Novato, 11:42 a.m.
Nearly an hour after the protest was supposed to end, people are now slowly beginning to leave.
Doyle Park, 11:34 a.m.
A representative for Sonoma County for Palestine who chose to remain anonymous said, “We should take this opportunity and use this momentum to make change throughout our society that benefits all people, not just the white people in the neighborhoods, but the immigrants, the people who are coming here, everyone,” they said. “For myself, I think that every person who lives within the United States has the right to liberty and peace and freedom, but currently the administration is imposing different forms of oppression on its people and everyone should be able to have a voice in the decisions that their nation makes and we’re not going to be able to do that with a king.”
Novato, 11:19 a.m.
Lynne Wasley, a community and protest organizer, said “I’m 75 — fuck my golden years. I thought I was going to get them, but I have to do this instead.”
“We’ve had a lot of people in the Latino community let me know they’re not safe out here. They don’t feel safe, but they see us and they’re so glad we’re here and it means so much to them.” Wesley said.
Doyle Park, 11:11 a.m.
Kate Thompson, a member of a group of local women singing and drumming in the park, said “Song is such a literary tool. To mobilize around using our voices, it not only helps pull in other people to join, but is in and of itself an act of sovereignty and liberation. It’s an incredibly, incredibly powerful tool.”
Novato, 11:04 a.m.
Although the protest was scheduled to end at 11 a.m., a crowd of hundreds remains present.
Protesters are chanting “No kings, no ICE, we’re standing up for the bill of rights!”
Doyle Park, 10:50 a.m.
KBBF Radio is reporting on the protest in the park while a marching band plays. The protest has the air of a street fair, rather than a rebellion.
Cotati, 10:46 a.m.
The protest has now grown to around 600 people, filling the downtown plaza and overflowing into side streets. Despite the number of protesters, police presence remains subtile and small.
Doyle Park, 10:39 a.m.
Marie Mulligan, volunteer for Indivisible Sonoma County, said “We have an organizational structure where I report to the coordinator of our peacekeepers. All our peacekeepers are trained in nonviolent de escalation and we are here to support the thousands of people who come today to exercise their constitutional right for speech.”
Two members of the protest dawn inflatable frog costumes, a nod to the ICE protests in Portland, Ore. this past week.
“These costumes make light of how ridiculous all of this authoritarianism is. We’re really just hoping to play that up because, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. I think it makes people happy and that’s a great thing right now.” said Kat Kubal, one of the demonstrators wearing inflatable frog costumes.
Cotati, 10:26 a.m.
Approximately 500 protesters gather in downtown Cotati along La Plaza Park and West Sierra avenues. Protesters line all four corners of the intersection chanting “Donald Trump has got to go” and “No Kings.”
Novato, 10:10 a.m.
Around 500 protesters gather at Reichert and Delong avenues, walking up and down the street chanting at passing cars. Members of the demonstration hold signs reading “No clowns, No crowns” and “34 felony convictions,” referring to the amount of federal charges President Donald Trump has faced in recent years.
Kathy Giannini, a member of We The People, said “We protest every Saturday, we’re hosting the No Kings protest here. We’ll probably get like 600 [protesters] today,” she said. “I think we’re gonna have an amazing turnout everywhere. We’re doing a food drive, there’s musicians, we have some singers.”
Santa Rosa Junior College, 9:34 a.m.
More protesters joined the march, pushing the numbers to the hundreds. Attendees, ranging from families to SRJC students, continue the march to Doyle Park chanting “What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like!” and “1-2-3-4 we don’t want your fascist war!”
Santa Rosa Junior College, 9:21 a.m.
Community members hold signs reading “Putin Puppet Get out of our White House” and “8497 No Kings Dump Trump” as they chant; the long walk to Doyle Park just beginning.
Santa Rosa Junior College, 9 a.m.
About a hundred protesters have gathered near the Santa Rosa Junior College sign on Mendocino Avenue. The protesters are expected to march from the SRJC sign to Doyle Park starting at 9 a.m.
This is a developing story. Please check back for live updates.
