Renton, WA— Before the clock struck noon on Saturday, the corners of North 10th Street and Logan Avenue were already full.
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Demonstrators began arriving well ahead of the 12 p.m. start time, unloading signs from cars and setting up booths as a steady stream of honks echoed from passing traffic along one of Renton’s busiest Saturday corridors. By the time the demonstration officially began, the line of participants stretched from the parking lot entrance of LA Fitness all the way down to the parking garages across 10th— a turnout that stood out.
Easily a hundred people were present before the hour. The honking was constant. Not occasional, constant. For the duration of the event, drivers passing through the area made their presence known.
The crowd reflected a cross-section of Renton community life. Families of all ages, children and seniors were present. Members of the Renton Education Association, which represents teachers in the Renton School District, were among those attending. A group had come prepared with dozens of signs available for anyone who arrived without one. And volunteers with the Whistle groups, a community effort that distributes whistles to neighbors as a way to signal and alert others to ICE activity in the area, were on hand as well.
Signs in the crowd carried a range of messages: “Thank you Minnesota,” “Impeach, Convict, and Remove,” “Vote,” “We the People,” “Tax the Rich,” “No ICE,” and “No Kings.” Demonstrators also carried flags, many of them US flags, but also a Greenland flag. A motorcycle circled through several times carrying its own banner asserting an expletive against the administration.
At one of the booths, a volunteer shared that the demonstration is organized by Renton residents who have held a weekly gathering at this same intersection since at least the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision in 2022— a quiet consistency that this Saturday’s crowd turned into something considerably louder.
“No Kings” Demonstration at The Landing, Photo Gallery by Renton Signal
