Picketers Oppose Trump at Six East End No Kings Day of Defiance Protests

Thousands of protesters picketed at a half dozen rallies across the East End on June 14 to support a nationwide No Kings Day of Defiance opposing the policies of President Donald Trump.

More than 1,000 people rallied in Riverhead, about 500 hit the streets of Sag Harbor, 250 marched down Billionaire’s Lane in Southampton, a large group protested outside East Hampton Town Hall, another picket line formed in Hampton Bays, and dozens more braved the rainy weather in Orient Point as a part of the No Kings protests.

“There’s more money in this one strip of the country than there is in some entire countries in the world,” said Rachel Hu, one of the organizers of the Billionaire’s Lane march. “These people are directly responsible for what’s happening on the national level … We have the ability as people from Long Island to actually be able to stand up and to really point the finger to the people that are behind, pulling the strings that are behind a lot of what’s going on.”

The half dozen Twin Forks area protests were among 12 across Long Island estimated to have drawn more than 10,000 people. No Kings organizers say millions turned out at more than 1,500 similar events nationwide to voice opposition to the Trump administration’s immigrant roundups, federal funding cuts, and what critics see as increasingly common overreaching by the executive branch.

“I’m here to do something to stop the autocracy, something, instead of just shouting at the television to come out and do something to try to stop what the Trump administration is doing,” said Charles Ricter of Southampton. “It is undermining our institutions, from the National Institute of Health to the Army.”

A bevy of politicians from near and far spoke at the Riverhead rally, including Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.

“We’re here because democracy is under attack — not just in Washington, but also in communities like ours,” he said. “When immigrant families are targeted by armed raids and fear becomes a tool of governance, that’s not law and order — that’s control through cruelty. We say no to tyranny, no to fear, and no to any leader who thinks they can rule like a king.”