Belleville, O’Fallon’s second No Kings protest draws hundreds

Thunder and lightning joined more than 700 protesters at Belleville’s downtown Public Square for Saturday’s nationwide No Kings Day of Action against the Trump administration. Earlier in the day, more than 500 gathered at O’Fallon City Hall.

Belleville and O’Fallon’s demonstrations were two of more than 2,500 No Kings protests across the country on Oct. 18 held by local advocacy groups. Indivisible Metro-East, the local chapter of the statewide progressive organizing group, hosted the Belleville event.

Demonstrators had a wide swath of reasons for braving the rain, Indivisible Metro-East leader and local attorney Alex Enyart said.

“I think people came out for the issues that mattered to them,” Enyart said. “This regime has made such a broad impact on every aspect of our civil liberties, whether it’s immigration, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights (and) religious freedoms.”

Tim Malacarne, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, and Air Force Veteran Erin Hamilton both attended the O’Fallon protest, with Hamilton joining Belleville’s after. They shared a similar sentiment — the federal government of today is not what they fought for.

“I’m a veteran, and I don’t want to see this country ruled by a king,” Malacarne said.

Hamilton, dressed in an inflatable raccoon suit, said she stood in solidarity with those in Portland who don similar frog suits to protest the National Guard’s presence in their city. A number of frog costumes were seen at O’Fallon’s protest.

“I fought for human rights … not turning our own military against civilians,” Hamilton said.

Marie Hisel attended Belleville’s No Kings protest in June. She said Saturday’s protest brought in a much larger crowd.

A lot has happened since June’s No Kings, Hisel and her friends Samantha Anderegg and Bre Ponder said. They named a few: the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed, which threatens millions of Americans’ health insurance, the National Guard was deployed to U.S. cities and the current federal government shutdown.

Hisel, a teacher in a local school district, said she and other educators have been fielding questions from concerned families who have not yet become citizens. Anderegg works in the restaurant industry and has heard of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raiding restaurants.

“It’s affecting more people every day,” Anderegg said.

Aside from the weather, Belleville and O’Fallon’s protests were mostly calm, demonstrators said. A few shouted in disagreement from car windows in O’Fallon.

Enyart said at Belleville’s protest, a man in a red hat that read “Trump was right about everything” walked around appearing to film protesters. Enyart was told that the man and a protester had an altercation in which the man pulled out, but did not use, pepper spray, at which point Enyart called the police and the man left.

There were also No Kings protests Saturday in O’Fallon, Edwardsville, Waterloo and Granite City. Local police said there were not any incidents at these demonstrations.

This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM.