‘No Kings’ sign-wave on Saturday packs York Road sidewalks

By Sarah Sternhagen, Editor-in-Chief and Morgan Lane, Senior Editor

Parts of York Road filled with protesters on Saturday for the York Road Free Speech Miles sign-wave. It was one of the thousands of “No Kings” protests held across the United States in a broad show against President Donald Trump and his administration.

The sign-wave lasted from noon to 1:30 p.m., with demonstrators lined up from Cross Campus Drive to further south down York Road. 

People waved American flags and signs denouncing Trump, while passing drivers honked in support of the demonstrators. People brought their dogs, and several set up camping chairs along the sidewalk while they waved their signs.

The event, which doubled as a food drive, had one of its food collection stations between Worcester Road and York Road. Julia Krieger, a volunteer collecting donations, said collecting food during the sign-wave was important because of the large number of people facing food insecurity in the nearby area.

In the first 30 minutes of the demonstration, she collected four pallets of food items.

Amanda Konradi, the host of the sign-wave, also emphasized the importance of advocacy through giving.

“One of the things we can do is to support these communities,” Konradi said. “Some are immigrant, and some are just in areas of the city and the county that are financially strapped.”

Towson University sophomore Saatvik Sharma and senior Cameron McNeil turned out for the event, waving signs on York Road nearby the Cross Campus Drive intersection. Sharma said he came out because some of his family members had worked in the government, and had lost their jobs due to the Trump administration’s rapid downsizing of federal government agencies. 

He’s also against the administration’s use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, known as ICE, to conduct raids on immigrants living in the United States.

“Trump and his whole efforts to mobilize ICE and things like this, it affects me as a brown person,” Sharma said.

Indivisible Baltimore County, who organized the event, provided three first-come-first-serve “soapboxes” for protesters to give speeches, start chants and voice their opinion. The soapbox at 7402 York Road had several people start chants on it during the event. 

Demonstrators Josh Singer and Joan Brown came out to the sign-wave together. Brown teaches English as a second language, and teaches her students how the United States government functions. She says she feels like a hypocrite, telling them about the three branches of government and how its checks and balances are supposed to work when that’s not happening today.

“We’ve had a democracy for 250 years and it just breaks my heart that it’s going away,” Brown said. 

March 28 was the third national “No Kings” protest day. The first large-scale one took place on June 14, 2025, with thousands of protests, rallies and other civil actions across the country. The second took place a few months later on October 18, where a rally and march in Towson at Riderwood Hills Park drew a massive crowd.

“I just think this is really important for people to kind of refresh themselves as activists,” Krieger said about the Saturday sign-wave. “We’re all out here together, supporting one another, showing solidarity against this administration.”