A cool, wind-swept Saturday did little to dampen the energy at Baltimore’s War Memorial Plaza, where an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 people gathered March 28 for the city’s ‘No Kings’ rally, part of a nationwide day of action organized by Indivisible and the 50501 Movement opposing what demonstrators describe as the authoritarian overreach of the Trump administration.
Sandwiched between the War Memorial Building and Baltimore City Hall, the plaza filled with a sea of handmade signs, costumes, and flags by 10:30 a.m. The crowd skewed older, with an average age around 50, and the energy was vibrant, carrying an undercurrent of frustration and urgency that spilled into every corner of the plaza. An ASL interpreter stood near the stage, translating speeches for the deaf and hard-of-hearing in attendance.
Among those in the crowd was Tanya Tewell, 71, a former professor from Tennessee and Indivisible Baltimore volunteer, seated near the voter registration table with her husband, holding a hand-painted sign depicting Trump as a king. For Tewell, the day carried real weight.
“It means taking our power back and restoring our democracy. We cannot believe what has happened in our country. Every day it’s appalling news, every day it’s another grift, and now it’s people dying,” she said.
The rally drew speakers including Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen, Rep. Kweisi Mfume, Dr. Kaye Whitehead, and U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who addressed the crowd from the steps of City Hall. Van Hollen led attendees in a chant that drew one of the afternoon’s loudest responses.
“Here in the state of Maryland, we say hell no to ICE detention centers. This is a free state and we want to keep it that way,” Van Hollen said.
The concerns on display stretched well beyond immigration. Terry Fitzgerald, 77, a Baltimore physician with Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, worked the crowd distributing flyers for Back from the Brink, a grassroots coalition urging the federal government to reduce the risk of nuclear war. Baltimore was the first city in the country to pass a Back from the Brink resolution.
“Just because you’re the most powerful doesn’t mean you should be crushing other people,” Fitzgerald said of his motivation to attend.
Dozens of Indivisible Baltimore volunteers circulated through the plaza, directing crowds, collecting petition signatures, and staffing a voter registration table. Among the younger attendees was Natalie Gibson, 28, from Annapolis, who said she and her group had been planning to come for two months.
“We really want our government and democracy to work like it’s supposed to. Which is not happening right now,” Gibson said.
By 1 p.m., the rally transitioned into roughly a two-mile march through Lafayette Street to Hopkins Plaza, continuing past Camden Yards and through the Inner Harbor before looping back, a procession that carried the afternoon’s collective message through the heart of the city.