Among the young adults at the No Kings protest on Saturday afternoon, a question reverberated throughout the lawn of the Capitol’s south steps: “Is this it?”
Though at least 10,000 people gathered outside the Texas state Capitol for Austin’s circus-themed rally, some protesters – mostly college-aged – left with mixed feelings.
The speakers, including U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett and Austin City Council Member Zo Qadri, encouraged protesters to stay “on theme” and leave before dark. Tensions were high with Greg Abbott deploying thousands of National Guard troops before the protests. After the anti-ICE protest last Monday, which resulted in 13 arrests and multiple injuries amid police-protester clashes, speakers and attendees emphasized three main points: anti-Trump, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-escalation.
Some of the crowd seemed restless. As state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, one of the final speakers, told the crowd that they should get home safely right after the protest, some of the crowd began chanting “Free Palestine.”
“It was generally good – a lot of good people coming together for a good reason,” Zoe Goleski, a junior at the University of Texas, told the Chronicle. “But the demonstration was so focused on the speakers that it felt like they were put on a pedestal, instead of hearing the protesters’ voices themselves. A grassroots approach is more important when those are the communities being affected.”
Brigitte Bandit, a local drag queen and activist, led chants at the rally that were met with a wide and disparate range of sound levels in response: “Protect trans people, Fuck ICE, Black Lives Matter, Free Palestine, No Kings, Yas Queens!”
“We want to tackle more complex situations, as in the pro-Palestine movement,” a UT student involved with the Palestinian liberation and solidarity and 50501 movements, said when asked about the “No Kings” message. “My mom actually encouraged me to come out. I’m here to just show up and represent as a Mexican American.”
Despite the impromptu march immediately following the speaker’s closing words – in which some protesters left for the J.J. Pickle Federal Building and others made their way through Downtown – Austin’s rally was largely nonviolent.
“We want to tackle more complex situations.” – UT student at the protest
“I was scared to come out here today,” Zena Mitchell, dressed in a Trump-like cartoon costume, said. “But then Mayor Watson came out and said we were going to have a peaceful protest, and then I was like, okay, that is Austin. That is us.”
Mayor Kirk Watson issued a statement at 11pm on Saturday, stating that because the gathering was largely peaceful, “folks from across our city and Central Texas made their voices heard – and did it in the right way.”
“There will always be the selfish few who choose to be a distraction, those who go rogue to get attention for themselves and seek negative confrontation,” Watson said on X, in reference to the protesters who pushed back at police lines during the march that followed the rally. Three officers were injured and several protesters were ultimately arrested. “But I’m glad they did not take attention away from those who wanted to make their voices appropriately heard.”
At the march, people almost exclusively in their teens, 20s, and 30s chanted “Fuck the Nazis” as they looped through Downtown. As it broke into smaller groups, some gathered on Congress to dance. Others walked past St. Mary’s Cathedral, where police set up a barricade of officers on bicycles, backed up by a row of motorcycles.
“There was a huge shift from the protest on the Capitol lawn to those who marched on the streets afterward,” Goleski said. “The shift to the march was needed, and had more passion instead of a surface-level approach.”
This article appears in June 20 • 2025.