AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Protests in Augusta and Aiken on Saturday drew thousands of people each as demonstrators waved signs and flags stating that America should have “No Kings.”

In Augusta, crowds lined Walton Way Extension near the busy Augusta Exchange shopping area close to where Interstate 20 meets I-520.

When the protest started at 9 a.m., about 200 people were there, then by 10 a.m., the crowd had grown to about 500. Ultimately it reached about 1,750, according to an estimate from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

Spanning from the Sprouts shopping center to First Baptist Church of Augusta, the crowd was peaceful, and some cars were honking.

“Even people passing by on the road, everyone’s been showing their support,” one protester said. “I’ve seen more people come in from the road that’s been turning into the parking lots and joining us in protest.”

Not everyone agreed with the crowd, and sometimes they voiced that. But the tension never flared to the point of conflict.

For example, one passerby stopped and yelled out, “Y’all are stupid,” and the crowd began to chant, “We love you.”

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office had deputies on hand in case anything got out of hand.

The protest was part of a nationwide series of “No Kings” demonstrations.

What was the message? One Augusta demonstrator put it this way:

“We’ve been king-free for about for about 200 years. Let’s keep it that way.”

“No Kings” was the slogan on many of the signs carried by protesters – although a couple joked that queens were OK.

Other signs bore a range of messages like:

• “The Constitution is not a suggestion.”
• “America, stop breaking my heart.”
• “Where law ends, tyranny begins.”
• “Rejecting tyranny since 1776.”

PHOTO GALLERY: ‘NO KINGS’ PROTEST IN AUGUSTA

There was no shortage of American flags – although at least one was displayed upside-down – a symbol of political distress. There was also at least one Canadian flag and one Mexican flag.

“Fight for what’s right, primarily against what we can see as a government overreach, primarily what’s going on in L.A., but also what’s going on around the world,” demonstrator Tony Lowe said.

“Especially with what’s happening in Gaza and our refusal to stand up. Against it and our government’s, not only inability to fight, but in complicity and helping it go on.”

Lowe was glad to see a big crowd.

“I love the numbers. I’m glad to see there’s so many like-minded individuals in this country and let alone the state.”

Other protesters were more focused on President Donald Trump.

“It’s just hard to see so many people suffering because of one man,” one demonstrator said. “I can’t sit by and just watch everything happen. If I look back at this time period of my life and tell my kids that I sat back and watched everything happen, they would be disappointed in me. I feel like I would be disappointed in myself. I need to be able to say that I did something.”

The demonstrator considers Trump a tyrant.

“What he’s doing is tyrannical. It’s the definition of tyrannical – no amount of sugar coating is going to change what he’s doing. It’s all wrong.”

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office was full of praise for the peacefulness of the protest.

“There were no reported incidents or arrests, and the few requests made by deputies – such as the removal of face coverings and the avoidance of restricted areas – were met with full compliance,” the agency said Saturday afternoon.

Sheriff Eugene Brantley also praised the event organizers for their professionalism, noting that the group left the protest route cleaner than they found it by ensuring all trash was removed before departure.

“Events like this remind us of the strength of our community,” Brantley said. “The right to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy, and when exercised responsibly, it can be a powerful catalyst for positive change.”

The organizers of the protests had a strict nonviolence policy. Weapons weren’t allowed, and participants were told to de-escalate any confrontations.

PHOTO GALLERY: ‘NO KINGS’ PROTEST IN AIKEN

At Aiken’s demonstration, there were an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 protesters.

They lined the street outside the Odell Weeks Activity Center, waving signs and flags much like the Augusta crowd.

There was also a small group of Trump supporters across the street.

The “No Kings” protests were originally planned in reaction to the Washington, D.C., military parade planned for President Donald Trump’s birthday, which coincided with Flag Day and the Army’s birthday on Saturday.

About 30 of the protests were planned in Georgia, with the largest one at Liberty Plaza near the Georgia Capitol in downtown Atlanta. That 5,000-capacity rally quickly reached its limit, with thousands more demonstrators outside the barrier in front of the state Capitol and a handful of counterprotesters leaving before the rally finished.

Protests were planned in nearly 2,000 locations across the country, from city blocks and small towns to courthouse steps and community parks, organizers said, but no events were scheduled in Washington, D.C., where the military parade was to take place in the evening.

The 50501 Movement orchestrating the protests says it picked the “No Kings” name to support democracy and speak out against what they call the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration. The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement.

Some protesters were also expected to renew anti-ICE calls as the nation’s eyes remain on tense protests in Los Angeles.

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