At the capitol, former Governor Bullock and other speakers critiqued the state for nearly prohibiting the weekend protest and celebrated their free speech win.
By JoVonne Wagner and Zeke Lloyd MONTANA FREE PRESS
Thousands of people gathered to protest President Donald Trump’s agenda in Missoula, Helena, Great Falls, Billings, Bozeman and other locations throughout Montana on Saturday for the third “No Kings” rally, a nationwide event.
In large cities and tiny towns, protesters waved signs, gave speeches and chanted slogans against the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement and the war in Iran. They also accused President Trump of embracing authoritarianism and trampling on democracy, among other grievances.
In Missoula, at least 3,500 protesters marched along the Clark Fork River reciting, “No Kings” and “No more ICE.” Billings’ local television station estimated 3,300 people at the rally in Montana’s largest city. In Bozeman, KBZK reported thousands of protesters. And in some small towns across Montana, a smattering of protesters could be spotted, waving signs and encouraging honks.
In Helena, more than 1,500 people gathered across the lawn and sidewalks in front of the state Capitol, chanting, “The nation united will never be divided” and “ICE out right now.”
Though Helena may not have been the largest protest, the event took on special significance for many attendees in the wake of a political back and forth over permitting. As of a week ago, the Helena rally would have looked and sounded quite different. The organizers were initially unable to obtain a permit for the weekend event after the Montana Department of Administration changed event permit rules in February, effectively prohibiting all weekend rallies that required setup. But after the shift prompted public outcry, the state reversed its guidelines on March 20.
Standing on the capitol’s nearly off-limits Flag Plaza, Democratic former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock critiqued Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte for initially creating an obstacle to the weekend event.
“When the current governor tried to silence your voices to make it so that you can not gather here on the steps of the people’s house, you stood up and said ‘No, that’s not who we are,’” he said. (The state initially said it changed the permitting to save money.)
Claudia Clifford, an organizer with Indivisible Helena, a local chapter of the national Indivisible group involved in organizing No Kings protests, praised the public, media and state Democrats for pushing to change the state permit rule.
“The strength of our constitutional rights of free speech and assembly are seven days a week and that helped provide this venue today,” said Clifford to an audience which nearly filled the entire Capitol front lawn.
Another Indivisible Helena organizer Barbara Barnes told Montana Free Press that the group estimated around 3,500 people attended, according to a mapping app the group used. That figure would make this the biggest No Kings protest in Helena so far.
While the event permitting process went smoothly and allowed major equipment set-up, Barnes said that organizers chose not to connect to the Capitol power and instead used their own personal generators “just to be safe.”
A group of veterans, former state poet laureate Chris La Tray and local high school students also spoke from the stage as rally-goers waved signs with messages including “I’m here because I love America,” “No War,” and “Veto the Cheeto!” Chelsia Rice, the co-owner of downtown business MT Book Company, emceed the event. A man wearing an inflatable giant baby costume and a Trump mask waved at passing cars with his tiny toy hand.
A speaker reminded the attendees that the event was one of 3,250 “No Kings” demonstrations across the world on Saturday. “Stand up; fight back,” the crowd chanted at one point.
There did not appear to be any sort of organized counter-protest, though a young man in a large truck drove by the Helena rally and shouted, “No more sleepy Joe Biden! Trump is still a good president!”
In Great Falls, the largest city in a county where Trump won by a 22-point margin in 2024, about 800 people filled both sidewalks along a bridge west of downtown. Unlike the protest in Helena, there were no organized speakers or stage. Instead, rally-goers directed their attention at passing cars, waving signs with messages like “hate never made America great” and “no sign is big enough to list all of the reasons I’m here.” One poster featured a butterfly underneath the text: “the only monarch I support.”
Linda Dahl, who said she drove about 60 miles from Conrad to attend the rally in Great Falls, told Montana Free Press that she wanted “to stop fascism and get our country back.”
Jenny Yoder, an organizer who volunteered as a medic for the Great Falls rally, told MTFP that No Kings was especially important in a red state.
“We know that we’re outnumbered here in Montana,” Yoder said. “But when we show up together we make other people feel included; that their beliefs are valid, that we’re in this together and that as a collective that we can begin to change people’s opinions.”
More than 160 miles away in Missoula, at least 3,500 protesters marched down Higgins Avenue to Caras Park.
“I’m protesting because as a 12 year old I shouldn’t have to worry about my future,” said Lur Hammon Combe, in an interview, her father by her side. She said she attended because she’s worried about climate change, immigration, and the feeling of not being safe in America.
Maggie Smith, a woman who could be categorized as a senior, said that she felt it was important to show up. She said she also wondered, “Where are all the young people?”
Though there was a range of people at the protest, most in Missoula seemed to be over 55.
The protest, located in a county that Trump lost by a 22-point margin in 2024, appeared to be among the biggest in Montana. Missoula has been one of the most active Montana towns protesting the Trump administration. Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a rally there last spring and community members hosted a vigil in January for Renee Good, who U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fatally shot earlier that month.
In Hamilton, a town of around 5,000 residents around 60 miles south of Missoula, at least a few dozen people gathered along the road with signs. These included: “I’m proud of our Constitution,” “we defend your right to disagree,” and “No King, No War, No ICE.”
Hamilton is in Ravalli County, which favored Trump by a 41-point margin in 2024.
A few dozen people also gathered for a No Kings rally in Plentywood, a town with around 1,700 people in northeastern Montana, according to Sheri Harvey. Harvey drove from her home in the smaller town of Froid, around 30 miles south. She said six others from Froid, a community of 195 residents that has felt the impact of Trump’s immigration policy following a neighbor’s arrest by Border Patrol, also traveled to Plentywood for the protest.
“It went really well,” Harvey told MTFP. “People just enjoyed talking to people of the same political views. It was nice to get together and know that there were a few more of us.”
The Trump administration dismissed the protests.
“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
Local chapters of Indivisible, a nationwide coalition that says it is focused on stopping “the rise of authoritarianism” and building “a real democracy that works for all of us,” were involved in organizing Saturday’s “No Kings” protests across Montana. Indivisible Helena, Indivisible Bozeman and Indivisible Missoula are among those with groups. Indivisible, which is incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit and a political action committee, does not aim to have a primary leader or demand, something that has attracted both mockery and praise.
Previously Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy has criticized Indivisible.
“Here is my response to media asking if I will attend Democrat Dark Money Group Indivisible’s left-wing rallies,” he wrote on X in 2025. “No, I will not legitimize a radical group that wants to defund the police and abolish ICE.”
JoVonne Wagner reported from Helena. Zeke Lloyd reported from Great Falls. Nora Mabie contributed reporting from Hamilton. John Stember contributed reporting from Missoula.
