Local residents held several No Kings protests across the Monadnock Region Saturday in a show of civic action as similar gatherings popped up in major cities and small towns all around America.
No Kings is a movement founded on the principles of nonviolent demonstration against what organizers describe as President Donald Trump seeking excessive power over other parts of the government, law and precedent.
Demonstrations in Charlestown, Hancock, Jaffrey, Keene, Peterborough, Swanzey, Walpole and Winchester drew at least 1,500 people, per numbers provided by organizers. For some of these towns, it was a repeat of similar gatherings held during a national No Kings Day in June. For others, it was their first No Kings participation.
The largest protests in the area were held in Peterborough and Walpole, where locals were supplemented by many Keene-area residents, who did not host a gathering in Central Square, as they have on previous No Kings action days, due to the Pumpkin Festival.
In Peterborough, organizer Francie Von Mertens said more than 400 people attended. The rally there in June had over 850 people — too many for the space along the busy intersection at the center of town, Von Mertens said. This time, she encouraged many people to attend rallies in Concord, Jaffrey or elsewhere instead to keep the numbers to a safe maximum.
About 71 people from Hancock split off their own rally on the Hancock town green.
Von Mertens and other organizers and attendees throughout the region said the gatherings were positive, community-oriented events.
“We’re often portrayed as very negative, as haters … that’s just not true,” she said.
Many of the signs at the Peterborough demonstration focused on things people love about America, she said, with many themed around the Constitution.
The signs highlighted “what we are concerned about and what we care for,” she said.
A wide variety of concerns motivated people to attend, according to Von Mertens, from frustration about checks and balances in the branches of government losing their power to worries about troops being deployed domestically.
She saw the events Saturday as both a protest and a place to find support and camaraderie, where people could share what they care about as well as their frustration and sadness.
“I think there’s real sorrow,” she said.
The protest in Keene was less populous than in June, when over 1,000 people came out to Central Square to show disdain for Trump’s policies and actions, and organizer Kristen Petricola, of the Keene Rally Coalition, said a lower turnout had been expected due to the Pumpkin Festival. On Saturday, organizers counted roughly 300 to 400 attendees in Ladies Wildwood Park. There were also “bridge brigades” held at the Charles Redfern Bridge and North Bridge. Petricola noted there could have been overlap between these three locations.
Come Veterans Day on Nov. 11, organizers are planning a rally in Keene in support of veterans. Petricola said that while there are veterans who approve of Trump’s agenda, some feel left behind by his policies.
Roughly 40 people gathered in the center of Winchester for the first No Kings protest in the town of about 4,200, according to Arlen Dohne, 75. The Winchester resident was the point-person for the protest, which only came together last Tuesday, she said.
She and a group of friends went to Keene in the past, but with the annual Pumpkin Festival landing on the same day, Dohne said it seemed like it would be “diluted” and difficult for older people with mobility issues to participate.
She said holding a protest gave this group an opportunity to exercise their First Amendment rights. There were several first-time protesters in attendance, she said.
According to Dohne, many of the people who attended the event were older, and said they were concerned about what Trump has planned for social security, Medicaid and Medicare.
Dohne called the protest a success and said she expects the group will host more in the future.
Saturday was also the first time a No Kings protest was held in Rindge, which has a population of about 6,500. Organizer Justin Charles, 39, said he was expecting about 10 to 20 people to show up, but roughly 45 amassed at the intersection of Routes 119 and 202.
Back in June, Charles said people interested in protesting from the town were encouraged to attend the protest in Jaffrey, but that organizers made the switch to hold their own this time around because they felt it was important that they have visibility in the very conservative town.
Charles said they don’t have anything concrete planned right now, but are hoping to hold more events.
In Jaffrey, Von Mertens said about 275 people gathered along Main Street. Similarly, in Charlestown, John Lambert reported about 90 people stood along Main Street with signs, some wearing butterfly wings for a pun on the word “monarch.”
Jaffrey is home to about 5,300 people and Charlestown to 4,800.
In Walpole, organizer John McCollister said roughly 400 people showed up to the part of Route 12 near Jouvay Chocolate. That was up from the roughly 200 who attended during the first national No Kings protest in June. The town’s population is roughly 3,700.
Sophia Keshmiri can be reached at 603-283-0725 or skeshmiri@keenesentinel.com.
Abigail Ham can be reached at 603-355-8554 or aham@keenesentinel.com.
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