Protestors will gather in Oak Park, Forest Park and more than a dozen other Chicagoland communities to demonstrate against President Donald Trump’s federal government on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The “No Kings” protests are just the latest set of anti-Trump demonstrations scheduled to take place in the communities since Trump took office earlier this year, including some also called “No Kings” protests. Oak Park most recently saw a few thousand protestors line Lake Street on Labor Day, while more than 200 people gathered to protest Trump on June 14 at Constitution Court in Forest Park.
These protests come as the Chicago area endures weeks of ramped-up federal immigration enforcement efforts via what Trump has called “Operation Midway Blitz,” regular confrontations between federal agents and protestors outside the ICE facility in nearby Broadview, the specter of out of state National Guard troops being deployed in the city and ongoing feuds between Trump and state and local leaders that have played out both in court and in the media.
The Oak Park protest will take place in Scoville Park and along Lake Street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Protestors will gather in Forest Park at the same time in front of the Chicago Bulk Mail Center, not far from the currently unused Illinois National Guard headquarters on Roosevelt Road.
As with the previous protests held in the villages, Saturday’s protests are part of a national series of demonstrations against Trump’s administration. More than 2,200 communities across the country will participate in the “No Kings” protests that day, according to Indivisible, one of the organizing groups behind the series of demonstrations.
The largest of the metro area protests is expected to take place at Grant Park in Downtown Chicago beginning at noon. Other suburban communities holding protests include Arlington Heights, Evanston, Palatine, Gurnee, Elgin, Park Ridge, Wilmette and others.
A “No Kings” protest is also scheduled for the Broadview ICE facility at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson signed an order last week requiring demonstrations at the facility to be over by 6 p.m.