Crowds in Fort Worth and Arlington will join over 2,500 rallies across the country for a No Kings protest Oct. 18, protesting the perceived authoritarianism of the Trump Administration.
Fort Worth鈥檚 crowd will gather in Burk Burnett Park, and Arlington鈥檚 will meet outside the Arlington Sub Courthouse. Both events will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In June, police estimated about in Fort Worth, and attended Arlington鈥檚. Both stayed peaceful. Organizers are coordinating with the police department to avoid potential violence, said Sabrina Ball, an organizer for the event.
Several progressive activist groups are organizing the Fort Worth protest, including Indivisible TX-12, which Ball, a house district coordinator for the Tarrant County Democratic Party, helped form in January after President Donald Trump鈥檚 inauguration.
is a nationwide network of progressive activist groups that started following Trump鈥檚 2016 election to mobilize action against the administration and the Republican Party. The organization is a primary planner of the No Kings protests.
June鈥檚 No Kings Day was the largest single-day protest mobilization since Trump鈥檚 inauguration, according to Harvard University鈥檚 and Ball expects Saturday鈥檚 to be larger.
鈥淭arrant County is the seat of Christian nationalism in Texas,鈥� Ball said. It is the biggest swing county. We flip Tarrant, we flip Texas.鈥�
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, a Republican, told the Report on Thursday that it鈥檚 everyone鈥檚 right to protest anywhere.
鈥淚'm always so proud of Fort Worth PD, they do such a great job preparing, making sure everybody feels safe and welcome,鈥� Parker said. 鈥淚 think you're going to see a smooth event on Saturday.鈥�
Ball said police were 鈥渁lready monitoring chatter.鈥� In June, they were on rooftops, in parking garages and wearing plain clothes in the crowd.
Gov. Greg Abbott said in a Thursday press release he鈥檒l to the No Kings protest in Austin because of a 鈥減lanned antifa-linked demonstration.鈥� Abbott鈥檚 statement didn鈥檛 specify the connection between the planned protests and antifa, nor comment on whether other Texas cities could see National Guard presence.
Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or .
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