Hundreds of people bearing upside-down American flags, cardboard crowns and signs running the gamut of political issues flanked one of Chesapeake’s busiest intersections Saturday.
Chants of “no kings” and “this is what democracy looks like” were met with honking and the occasional rude hand gesture from passing cars.
Thousands more attended similar demonstrations across the region as part of the national ‘No Kings’ day of protest meant to act as a foil to President Donald Trump’s planned military parade in Washington, D.C. and to oppose what critics say are increasingly authoritarian moves by the president and his administration.
Alison Bouche, a lifelong Republican from Virginia Beach, was among the protesters waving signs where Battlefield Boulevard meets Volvo Parkway.
Bouche said she made a mistake voting for Donald Trump in 2016, noting she supported Democrat Kamala Harris last year.
“I am so fed up with everything that we are dismantling, that our country has stood for. I am out here protesting our elected officials are not doing their jobs,” she said.
In the throng across the street from Bouche, Stephanie Perez flew an upside-down American flag emblazoned with the words “liberty and justice for all” in black marker.
She moved to Hampton Roads from California three months ago and said demonstrating is the least she can do for her family in Los Angeles, where protests against immigration crackdowns have been raging for the last week.
“I've seen everything that's happening in L.A. and our silence gives everybody else power. The louder we are, hopefully the louder it is for them to know how much we disagree with what's going on,” she said.
Several attendees at the Chesapeake demonstration told WHRO they were surprised by the large and enthusiastic turnout, citing the city’s reputation as a relatively conservative area.
Sheila Tigner has lived in Chesapeake since the 70’s.
“I've felt for years like I'm a little dot of blue in a sea of red, but that seems to be changing,” she said.
The city reliably voted for Republicans in presidential elections since 1980 until Barack Obama won the city in 2008 and 2012. Trump won Chesapeake when he first ran for president in 2016, but the city's since rejected him twice, backing Joe Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024.
Tigner had never been to a protest until this year, when Trump started rolling out executive orders to slash the government.
Saturday, Tigner waved a sign with Virginia’s state seal and its Latin motto, 'sic semper tyrannis,' or ‘thus always to tyrants.’
Elsewhere in Virginia, police arrested a 21-year-old man after they say he intentionally drove into a crowd of people leaving a 'No Kings' demonstration in Culpeper. The Culpeper Police Department wrote that the car hit at least one person but nobody was injured. Joseph R. Checklick, Jr. is charged with reckless driving, though police wrote that additional charges may be filed.
