CT Governor Lamont Headlines Large No Kings Protest on Greenwich Ave

A crowd that numbered over 1,000 gathered outside the Havemeyer building on Greenwich Avenue Saturday to express their disapproval of the Trump administration’s policies and agenda.

The event was one of about 2600 No Kings rallies across the country.

The crowd was deep enough to fill the space between the Havemeyer building’s front steps and Greenwich Avenue, where protesters were encouraged by honking horns.

There were myriad handmade signs and moments of humor in the form of inflatable costumes.

Despite the size of the crowd – the the turnout was more than double the previous No Kings rally and April’s Hands Off rally – the event was peaceful.

Connecticut’s Democratic Governor Ned Lamont was the headliner of the event, taking the mic on the front steps of the home of Greenwich Public Schools to say, “Alright Greenwich, this is a Love of America rally!”

“Greenwich knows what democracy looks like. Connecticut knows what democracy looks like. President Trump is forgetting what democracy looks like. And it’s incredibly dangerous,” he said to applause.

“You gotta stand up. You gotta fight back. You gotta push back. It might be one of my favorite founding fathers who said you gotta get up, stand up, stand up for your rights,” he said.

“Get up, stand up,” he start to sing, from the familiar Bob Marley song.

“We don’t need to be educated about democracy. We are the Constitution State going back 300 years. The first constitution. The Connecticut constitution. Do you know how it began?” he asked. “We The People of Connecticut – governed by those who gave their consent  – get rid of those militias. Get rid of those standing armies. Stay out of our towns.”

“Three branches of government. Checks and balances. Respect the constitution.”

Lamont said that during the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the delegates had created for America. He responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Lamont said Congressman Jim Himes representing CT’s 4th district, along with Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, were in Washington, DC trying to fight for citizens’ rights.

“It’s a little scary what’s going on in this state right now. Talk about liberty and freedom for all – and all men are created equal – they’re going out right now and saying, ‘We’re just deporting the criminals.’ My God, you saw what they did? My God, they’re going to the car washes. They’re going to Home Depot. They’re going to our courthouses,” Lamont said.

“Get your damn masks off. What are you so afraid of, ICE? he asked. “We’re saying you’re not allowed in our court houses, you’re not arresting anybody. Please, get your kids to school. Tell them they can get to school safely. We have people at every front door at the schools if ICE shows up, saying, ‘Not here in Connecticut. Not allowed.'”

Lamont talked about federal funding for Connecticut being “yanked away.”

“We sued him 36 times,” he said. “Thankfully (CT Attorney General) Tong is out there very day fighting, we’re getting the money back.”

“I’m calling red governors every time and saying, ‘Stop being so timid.’  They yank away the Medicaid, it’s going to hurt your people even more than ours,” Lamont said.

Indivisible Greenwich’s Nerlyn Pierson urged the crowd to be respectful and share videos and photos. “That is who we are and that is what democracy looks like,” she said.

“Our community is peacefully coming together to push back against President Trump’s violent, authoritarian actions,” said Nerlyn Pierson, a founder and leader of Indivisible Greenwich. “We’re bringing together people from all walks of life who share a simple message: We don’t do dictators or kings in America.”

In her remarks, Pierson said, “Last week, Speaker Mike Johnson, and since then GOP leadership, and the Trump administration have called today’s No Kings events a “Hate America Rally.” Let’s be crystal clear — this is not a Hate America Rally. Rather, this is a Love America Rally. And it’s happening in each of the 50 states, with millions of Americans saying this all ends when enough of us say no more.”

Indivisible Greenwich’s Joanna Swomley said democracy depended on a free press, a robust university system, civic service, the rule of law, and lawyers.

“We knew what Trump was going to do when he took office,” Swomley said. “We read Project 2025. Not a surprise. The surprise came when individuals and companies who have vast wealth and power bent the knee, obeyed in advance just because the president asked them to.”

“Right before the inauguration he already co-opted Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post. He co-opted Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook. He co-opted those people right before the inauguration. Then, right after, he set his sights on the law firms, “Swomley continued. “He set his sights on the universities. Columbia bent the knee.”

“They didn’t have to, but they did,” she said. “Paramount and CBS, wanting to get their merger through, they bent the knee. That was the real surprise after he took office. That was the shocker for a lot of us who didn’t see it coming. Fear, it turns out, is pretty contagious. But you know what else is contagious? Courage!”

 

US Congressman Jim Himes representing Connecticut’s 4th district, said, “My colleague, the Speaker of the House, says that this is a ‘Hate America rally.’ This man who cloaks himself in the mercy and the charitability of the love of Jesus Christ and wears it on his sleeve – he calls this hate!”

“Mike Johnson, Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and Steven Miller have completely forgotten three critical things about this country,” Himes said. “Number one, this country was founded around the idea that we have no kings. Right here in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, Rhode Island – no kings. We’ve been kicking out kings since 1776 and we’re not stopping now.”

Himes urged attendees to support one another and stay united.

“The beautiful thing about this crowd is we have Democrats, and Republicans and Independents, and lots of different views, but when it comes to love in our country, we stand united.”

“I was beating up on president Garber of Harvard University and saying do not bend a knee. And since then, MIT and Brown University have said, we’re not going along this time. There’s a lot of college degrees in this crowd. Call your universities and say, do not bend a knee.”

“And if CBS decides they’re going to fire somebody for what they said, you cancel your subscriptions. Every single day there is something you can do to say I will not abide, and we will prevail!” Himes said.

Laurie Heiss from Indivisible Greenwich said when people are worried and despair, action takes courage. She said hundreds of neighbors have been writing thousands of letters and postcards to people in swing states.

“Action is the antidote to anxiety,” she said, urging people to volunteer in the election in some capacity.

Heiss introduced Dan Edelstein who has been volunteering to accompany immigrants to their court appearances.

“We are not here to hate. We are here to celebrate this country. We are here because we love this country,” he said.

Edelstein recalled how in the 1960s and 1970s he had fought for civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights and disabled rights.

“Fighting to make ‘every person is created equal’ – more than just aspirational words,” he said. “The immediate question for all of us, is what do we do as individuals in the face of this assault on everything we believe in?”

He emphasized the event’s theme of ‘small acts of courage.’

“Is staying out of the fray really an option?” he asked the crowd.

Edelstein said few months earlier he had joined a grassroots group: Stamford-Norwalk United with Immigrants.

“They are still actively working to undo some of the damage that ICE has inflicted on their terrified communities. Many of them are afraid to leave their homes or go to work – worried they’ll be kidnapped.”

Edelstein said the group organized food drives and provided transportation of different kinds.

“Personally I’ve chosen to join the program that accompanies vulnerable immigrants to their court hearings because ICE has been staking out the courts to kidnap people on their way to fulfill their legal obligations,” he said. “These are not gang members or violent criminals. They are landscapers, they are restaurant and factory workers, house cleaners, students.”

“Our thinking is based on the unfortunate reality that ICE would be less likely to abduct them if a bunch of mostly old, mostly white folks were there to bear witness,” Edelstein said. “Unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way.”

Note: This article was updated to reflect the final crowd count of over 1,000 attendees.