Līhuʻe’s ‘No Dictators’ rally draws 500 as part of nationwide protest against President Trump

About 500 people lined both sides of Kaumualiʻi Highway in Līhuʻe on Saturday in one of the many “No Kings” demonstrations held across the country to protest President Trump and his Administration.

A similar rally was held at the Princeville Library on the North Shore, with an estimated 250 people attending.

Indivisible.org is the primary organizer of the national event while indivisiblehawaii.org is the statewide organizer that named the event “No Dictators” in Hawaii. This is out of respect for Hawaiʻi’s history of aliʻi (chiefs and kings).

The local participants joined an estimated 7 million Americans at about 2,700 protests in one of the largest single-day nationwide demonstrations in U.S. history.

Leading up to Saturday, many Republican leaders, including U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson labeled the planned demonstrations as “hate America rallies.” But organizers and participants of “No Kings” say they are protesting a federal government they see as quickly moving into authoritarianism under Trump.

Trump spent Saturday at his Florida home, Mar-A-Lago, according to the Associated Press. But a social media account by the Trump campaign made fun of the protests by posting a computer-generated video of the president wearing a crown and monarch clothing, while waving from a balcony.

In Līhuʻe, people waved American flags and homemade signs, including one that read: “Make America Humane Again.”

Others pointed out several things that were fascist, including “replacing science with ideology,” “illegally detaining without due process,” and “using the military on civilians.”

The protest was peaceful, with participants wearing inflatable dinosaurs, a shark, and dragon. The tactic, which supporters say lowers tension and draws attention without violence, started in Portland, Ore., during U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests.

But the tactic spread after a video went viral of an ICE agent pepper spraying the air vent of a Portland protester’s inflatable frog costume.