Protesters demonstrating against the policies of President Donald Trump gathered across the state on Saturday, joining the national day of “No Kings” rallies.
In Hawaiʻi, the events were called “No Dictators," and crowds gathered from Hilo, Kona and Waimea on the Big Island to Kahului on Maui.
Outside the Hawaiʻi State Capitol in Honolulu, HPR spoke with several people about why they came out to protest, including Susan "Sue" Yamane-Carpenter of Waiʻanae.
"I am very concerned about what Trump is doing in a lot of the cities here across the United States, bringing in the military and overrunning the local police, and expecting the military to now do the job of our police. Nah, that's not right," Yamane-Carpenter said.
Also on Saturday, Susan Wilcox of Wahiawā was holding a sign that said "Courage is Contagious."
"As many people as are out here today, I think there are many, many others who are staying home. They might be a little bit nervous about what might happen," Wilcox said. "I want them to know that if we are out here, let's have that courage to be contagious."
One first-time protester was Danelle Cheng, who said she attended for the people who could not be there.
"In trying to get our friends to come out here, we were struck by how there's so much fear in just protesting," Cheng said. "Some of our friends are federal workers, and they were afraid to come out. They're the ones that aren't getting paid right now during the government shutdown, but we're here to represent them because they can't, or they feel that they can't, without repercussions."
James "Jim" Danner served 28 years in the Navy as a chaplain and said he was there Saturday to support veterans' benefits.
"I'm out here for the veterans and their health care," he told HPR. "Especially after this last talk that they gave at the Pentagon, I had four-star admirals calling me saying, 'What the heck is going on here?'"
Joyce Neeley and James Hildenbrand have been to three local rallies and said more and more people turn out each time.
"This is our duty. We have to do this for our grandchildren, and we have a great-grandchild now, too, so we have to do it for him," Hildenbrand said.
For the first time, the national head of Common Cause, Virginia Kase Solomón, was in Honolulu to see the local turnout.
"So far, we have about 7 million people just in the U.S. who have come out to protest, and that doesn't even include the numbers that we're hearing or waiting to report back from places like Ireland and the United Kingdom and all the other countries around the globe who are standing in solidarity with the U.S. today," she told HPR on Saturday.
Organizers reported no major issues across the state. Indivisible Hawaiʻi estimated the rallies drew about 22,000 people statewide.
HPR's DW Gibson, Catherine Cruz and Emma Caires contributed to this story. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
