PORTLAND and SALEM — Tens of thousands of Oregonians turned out to protest Saturday as part of a national wave of rallies against President Donald Trump and his administration. The third coordinated national day of No Kings protests drew Oregonians with signs and plenty to say to Portland’s T om McCall Waterfront Park and Salem’s Oregon State Capitol Mall, both springtime destinations for cherry blossom viewing. Across the state, Oregonians gathered on street corners and in parks to make their voices heard. States Newsroom, the Capital Chronicle’s parent organization, provided live coverage of No Kings protests throughout the country. An estimated 30,000 people — down from the 40,000 who turned out in Portland for the second No Kings protest in October — were in the Tom McCall park along the Willamette River. Satellite protests on street corners and a morning event with labor leaders and Gov. Tina Kotek also drew attendees. Matthew Gottula, 37, donned an inflatable frog costume to join about a dozen other members of the “frog brigade” at the waterfront park. The frog costumes, which gained nationwide attention after Portlanders wore them to protest at the city’s ICE facility, are a tool for “tactical frivolity” and to puncture the idea that Portland is a war-torn city, Gottula said. “We’re not,” Gottula said. “We are a lovely, wonderful people. We care about our neighbors. And we know how to have a good time and be joyful, but also make a point that we do not accept what’s happening at a federal level.” U.S. Sen Jeff Merkley speaks at the No Kings III protest on Saturday, March 28, 2026, near the Capitol in Salem. (LAURA TESLER/For Salem Reporter) Grace Mitchell, a 56-year old legal assistant, rode a motorized scooter to protest in Portland and carried a sign that said “All of my outrage can’t fit on this sign.”  “The way our education is being treated, the money that’s being taken away from science and programs, those are all things that really hurt me,” she said. An evening protest, not affiliated with No Kings, had drawn more than 100 people to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility south of downtown by 6 p.m. Saturday. Among them was Jack Dickinson, commonly known as “the Portland chicken” and the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over excessive force against protesters. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this week paused a lower court’s rulings limiting federal agents’ use of tear gas, pepper balls and other crowd control weapons against protesters at the facility. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, both Democrats, spoke to the crowd gathered in Salem.  “I never thought in a million years we would have an authoritarian this close to turning us into an enduring strongman state,” Merkley said. The Salem crowd included nearly 20 members of the Bennette family, many of whom walked almost three miles from Lancaster Drive NE to the Capitol Mall to make their voices heard.  “It’s really turned into a family affair,” Wende Bennette-Kirkland said. “We need to end the policing of our First Amendment rights, and we also need to fight for equality for all of our neighbors.” Bennette-Kirkland toted a sign calling to end Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for more political spending, while sister Elizabeth carried a sign depicting a pig styled to look like Trump.  Cameron and Annmarie Jones were registered Republicans until 2015, when they left the party over Trump. Now, they’ve been to more than 10 protests since Trump’s return to office, including Saturday’s No Kings event in Salem. “In 2015, my party elected Donald Trump in their primary as the Republican candidate, and I said, ‘There’s no way I can be in a party that would bring that clown as their representative,’” Cameron Jones said. “I think we need to do everything as citizens to lawfully resist all the horrible things he’s doing.” An estimated 4,000 people joined a No Kings protest Saturday in downtown Corvallis, according to local organizers. Demonstrators there listened to a musical performance from the newly formed Corvallis Resistance Singers and participated in a parade that included a marching band and a giant puppet of President Donald Trump in handcuffs. “It’s important now more than ever to continue resisting and to continue fighting for human rights,” Benton County resident Konnie May said. “It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the intensity and craziness of everything that happens day after day, week after week.” In Cannon Beach, the northwest coastal city of about 1,500 known for its sandy beach and Haystack Rock, a crowd including a person in an inflatable axolotl costume gathered to protest.  Capital Chronicle editor-in-chief Julia Shumway, reporter Mia Maldonado and Aubrey Lee, a staff writer for The Collegian student newspaper at Willamette University, contributed reporting. Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: [email protected]. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and Twitter. STORY TIP OR IDEA? Send an email to Salem Reporter’s news team: [email protected]. The post Oregonians take to streets to protest Trump as part of third No Kings day of rallies appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less