FARGO (KFGO-KVRR) — Around 2,000 ‘No Kings’ protests are scheduled across the nation Saturday, including 10 in North Dakota.
Lyn Dockter-Pinnick works with the League of Women Voters of the Red River Valley and several other groups. She says protesters include farmers worried about tariffs, international students not knowing if they will be allowed to go to school, and people upset about recent cuts to the VA.
“There’s a lot of false narratives about who we are and what we’re doing. We’re not paid protesters, we’re not outside agitators. We’re citizens of North Dakota, Minnesota, and the Red River Valley who are legitimately concerned about the impact of these policies on us,” Dockter-Pinnick said.
Fargo has hosted several peaceful protests , but many are concerned about safety at Saturday’s event.
“We’ve done a lot of training, all of our safety volunteers, and we’ll have at least twenty safety volunteers present, have taken de-escalation training. I’ve taken de-escalation training in preparation for this. And if we can’t de-escalate something that occurs, we’ll simply evacuate,” said Dockter-Pinnick.
40,000 people are expected at the Minnesota State Capitol. Organizer Lisa Erbes says volunteers there have also completed de-escalation training.
“We’ve got a ton of very experienced marshals and security people on our team who know how to do crowd control and handle anybody who may be there as a counter protester. So everybody can come and feel totally safe.”
Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, and Attorney General Keith Ellison are scheduled to speak at the St. Paul protest.
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