Editor’s note: The following story contains some profanity and descriptions and photographs of altercations between protestors and the Denver Police Department.
For John and Kathy Miller, a pair of 1969 and 1970 graduates of Colorado State University, the current political moment feels like nothing they’ve ever seen before.
It was what brought the two, clad in their alma mater’s caps and t-shirts, to the state capitol on Oct. 18. There, among a throng of thousands of attendees, the Millers participated in No Kings Day, protesting the current federal administration.
But their main worries weren’t about themselves or each other; they fear for today’s young people. To John, politics should be a young person’s game.
“I think we need to let that generation… take over things,” he said. “Old people like us have been making a lot of noise since we were in college.”
Throughout the day on Saturday, nearly seven million people nationwide protested a presidential administration that, they say, has largely turned its back on democracy.
Attendees in cities across Colorado reflected a cross section of Americans with motivations as diverse as the crowds themselves; foreign policy, free speech, budget cuts and the president’s character were frequently cited as key concerns.
Among the crowds of health care workers, students and former government workers, a message rang clear: This is not something that might affect attendees in the future — they believe it already has.
“I definitely think it’s getting to a point where the average American on both ends is starting to get more affected by the policies and things that [Trump is] putting forth,” said Michael Johnson, an attendee at the Denver demonstration.
Protests in Boulder
Protestors rush across Canyon Blvd at the No Kings protest in Boulder, CO on Oct. 18, 2025. (Peter FitzGerald/CU Independent)
In Boulder, protesters spread down Broadway Street, Canyon Boulevard and onto the Pearl Street Mall. Kenneth Nova, an event organizer, estimated that over 8,000 people attended.
“‘No Kings’ means support for our democracy,” said David Adamson, another organizer with No Kings. “What did we have a revolution for?”
One Boulder resident in her seventies, Linsey Franklin, carried a sign with a quote from former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that she felt was relevant to the current moment.
“Fight for the things that you care about,” her sign said. “But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
The back of the sign displayed a photo of an elderly woman, reading, “I can’t believe I still have to protest this fucking shit.”
With the protest taking place just down the road from the University of Colorado Boulder’s campus, some protestors noted their surprise at the lack of students present.
“I do not see many students here,” Franklin said. “I’m going to be dead. You guys are going to be alone. It’s your life.”
Thirty miles away in Denver, 18-year-old Nyx Smith expressed this same sentiment. Smith particularly noted his concerns regarding Gen-Z’s low voter turnout in last year’s presidential election.
“It feels like it’s getting worse and worse every year,” Smith said. He attributes the lower voting turnout among young people to “feelings of hopelessness.”
Among other factors, low political participation can be traced to psychological stress.
Smith explained that large gatherings like No Kings Day help him push through fatigue in political participation, calling the solidarity “inspiring.”
“Knowing that you’re not alone, that there is other people who believe the same thing, who also want to fight for that change,” said Smith. “We can make a change.”
But the lack of university students at the Boulder demonstration did not mean a lack of the younger generation. Many attendees had young children sitting atop their shoulders, dressed in costumes and holding signs.
For north Boulder residents Steve and Jacquie Mannhard, this was an opportunity for their children, who Jacquie said feel powerless, to get involved and express their support for democracy.
“They can’t vote, so it’s important for them to have meaningful action that they can take,” Jacquie said.
Protests in Denver
In Denver, a blood-splattered Lady Liberty protested alongside Uncle Sam, whose sign drew a connection between the current administration and 1940s Germany. The two American icons, portrayed by college students Amber Wright and Nathaniel Rowling, had come to protest futures that, they say, are being jeopardized by the current administration.
“It’s hard to watch your future slip away,” Rowling said. “I’m afraid of losing the ability to own a home and the ability to raise the kids that I want, where I want, how I want.”
Both Rowling and Wright previously interned at the State Department in the nation’s capital; now, they worry about changes that will impact government workers.
“We are concerned with how much the federal workforce has been slashed,” Wright said. “It’s an internal coup. It’s a coup that happens on a daily basis in the Trump administration.”
A protester waves a sign reading “Thank you federal workers” at the No KIngs protest in Boulder, CO on Oct. 18, 2025. (Peter FitzGerald/CU Independent)
Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has sought to cut the size of the federal workforce through actions like establishing the Department of Government Efficiency. The State Department, where Rowling and Wright once worked, fired approximately 9% of its employees this July.
The two also noted their commitment to protesting against “fascism,” a key concern for attendees across multiple demonstration locations.
“It’s hard watching our country descend to fascism every single day,” Wright said. “We want to come out here and say that we will not comply with a fascist president and a fascist administration.”
Historically, Trump has railed against Antifa, the short-form term for “anti-fascist.” In an executive order passed this September, he designated Antifa a terrorist organization and called it a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”
Some individual Antifa activists have engaged in violence, including the 2020 shooting of a pro-Trump activist by Antifa supporter Michael Reinoehl.
On Saturday, the label was worn with pride and a mostly jovial nature. One protester in Denver dressed as a black cat, dancing on a street corner with “Antifa” stitched to its chest. Signs read “I am Antifa/ I am anti-fascist.”
A protestor dressed as a black cat with “ANTIFA” stitched across their chest dances in Denver, Colo. at No Kings Day on Oct. 18, 2025. (Jessica Sachs/ CU Independent)
In Boulder, organizer Adamson passed out “Antifa” armbands.
Antifa has also been a key talking point for Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, who called the demonstrations a “hate America rally,” and said they would draw “the Antifa people.”
But demonstrators in Denver largely rejected the idea of hating America. For many, it was an occasion to join in community and engage in conversation about how to move the country forward.
U.S.military veterans came armed with American flags, some turned upside down in a historic symbol of distress. These vets say they attended No Kings out of love for their country.
One veteran in attendance was Nicholas Patrick, a man who likened himself to “jolly old Saint Nicholas.”
“I’m ashamed of what’s happened to our country,” Patrick said. “We love our country, but not what’s happening to it right now, and we need to stop it.”
According to the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 39% of adults approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while roughly 60% feel Trump has gone too far in “imposing new tariffs on other countries, using presidential power to achieve his goals, and in using the military or federal law enforcement in U.S. cities.”
One Trump policy facing high public disapproval is the One Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4. Among more than 900 pages of other policies, the act makes major tax cuts, impacting healthcare operations nationwide.
“I work in community mental health (and) behavioral health, and I am appalled by the cuts and (that) they want to raise premiums,” said Jaiden Kolb, a healthcare worker. “That’s literally going to kill people, I can’t explain it any better.”
Another attendee, Genevieve Morrison, is a student at Colorado School of Mines. Her concerns lay mostly with students’ rights and the repression of student speech.
“Right now at Mines, we’re facing a lot of political repression,” Morrison said. “With Trump’s compact for academic excellence, we’re facing a lot of unprecedented political repression from the government.”
On Oct. 1, the Trump administration sent the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education to nine colleges. Requirements include: limiting international student enrollment, restrictions on transgender students and enforcing standardized tests for admissions. Though no Colorado universities received the compact, schools throughout the state have faced their own troubles.
This year, the FIRE foundation ranked Morrison’s university 86th out of 257 universities nationwide in terms of free speech. The school also received a D- “speech climate grade.”
Morrison added that while many students may feel supportive of protests like No Kings Day, they must consider potential backlash.
“Mines is a little bit tricky,” Morrison said. “A lot of people want jobs in oil and gas, in weapons manufacturing (and) chemicals. A lot of people are really worried that if they speak up, they’ll be denied job opportunities in the future.”
Other students in attendance similarly noted that they wished more of their peers were involved politically. CJ Yedlinsky, a first-year student at CU Boulder, said that while there have been some political protests on his campus, he wishes “there was a lot more.”
He also said he believes many people feel frustrated with the current government and that this frustration could begin to manifest itself in violence.
“(The government) is making terrible decisions that are destroying the lives of Americans,” Yedlinsky said. “Quite frankly, no one’s going to be mad (when) violence occurs if their lives are being ruined.”
Police action in Denver
Though the initial demonstration was largely peaceful, there were a number of altercations between police and protestors as the day’s officially sanctioned events drew to a close.
At approximately 3:50 p.m., a smaller group of protesters took to the streets again, heading towards 20th and Chestnut Streets. The Denver Police Department was staged at the intersection, preventing the protesters from going any further.
At 4:05 p.m., DPD declared the gathering unlawful and gave the protesters 10 minutes to disperse before they would use “all reasonable necessary force … including chemical munitions.”
The protesters refused to disperse, and at approximately 4:15 p.m., after repeated announcements from DPD, officers rolled smoke canisters into the crowd and deployed pepper balls to forcibly disperse the protesters.
The officers then followed the crowd as they retreated for several blocks, continuing to deploy smoke canisters and pepper balls. Several arrests were made during the incident, with protesters being tackled to the ground by armored officers.
Another similar incident took place at 6:45 p.m. at the intersection of 6th Avenue and Santa Fe Drive. Similar dispersion tactics were used, and several protesters were also arrested.
Throughout the day, DPD made 13 total arrests, with charges relating to disobedience, interference and throwing missiles. No arrests were made in Boulder.
This second group of protestors, after their altercations with DPD, dispersed and did not return to the Capitol grounds.
Throughout the day, protestors emphasized the importance of utilizing their freedom of speech, even after No Kings Day drew to a close.
“We still have the right to free speech in this country,” said Wright, with her teal Lady Liberty crown hanging from the crook of her elbow. “It’s being restricted every single day, but if you have the right to free speech, it is your responsibility to use it.”
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor Satori Griffith at satori.griffith@colorado.edu
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