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As tanks and active-duty soldiers prepared to march through D.C. for the country’s first military parade in over 30 years, demonstrators filled the streets of Maine to reject what they called President Donald Trump’s abuse of authority and attempts to erode democracy.

Thousands of people in more than three dozen cities and towns rallied and marched Saturday — part of a national day of action against federal immigration raids, moves to cut federal funding and what many see as attempts to centralize power in the executive branch. More than 2,000 demonstrations were planned across the country.

In Portland, thousands of protesters took to Monument Square and Lincoln Park, waving American and Mexican flags and carrying signs condemning “violence against the people” and “kings in America.” Among them was Mellony Beck, who came from Cape Elizabeth and worries about threats to women’s and gender affirming health care.

“What the administration has been doing for trans rights and stuff has been really scary as a trans person,” Beck, 21, said. “And the military parade? No kings in America, that’s all I can say.”

The nationwide “No Kings” demonstrations came hours before Trump’s long-planned military parade through Washington, which coincided with both the Army’s 250th anniversary and his 79th birthday. Critics have decried the parade, which is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, as a vanity project and a waste of federal money.

MOSTLY PEACEFUL, SOME CLASHES

The demonstrations in Maine remained mostly peaceful, though some protesters clashed with police after the organized events.

At several points, Portland police physically engaged with a group of about 50 protesters at Lincoln Park, shoving down demonstrators and members of the press who had ventured into the street as officers attempted to contain the crowd.

Department spokesperson Brad Nadeau said protesters who stood in the street at about 1:40 p.m. were “encouraged to leave the area or they would be arrested for obstructing a public way,” and said in a written statement Saturday afternoon that officers pushed some people onto the sidewalk “in lieu of making several arrests.” He said police arrested two people.

A 35-year-old Portland resident was arrested on assault and obstructing a public way charges after throwing a water bottle at a police officer’s chest, Nadeau said. As officers detained her, a protester from Falmouth “blew an air horn directly at an officer from a close proximity, causing immediate pain in his ears.” The 27-year-old man was also arrested on an assault charge, Nadeau said.

Portland resident Jamaica Ford said police threatened to take her megaphone as she led a chant of “No KKK, no fascist USA, no ICE.”

“They said I couldn’t use it, that I’d get arrested if I talked with the megaphone,” Ford said.

Though the park had largely cleared by 2:40 p.m., the crowd there peaked at more than 3,000 attendees. Police did not estimate the size of the crowd, Nadeau said.

Some of them had come from Monument Square, where a few hundred people rallied before the larger demonstration down Congress Street.

Frank Freeman and Stefa Normantas came from Saco for the rallies in Portland. The married couple has been to two other anti-Trump rallies in Portland this spring.

“This really is the preservation of democracy,” said Normantas.

Freeman said he was a conservative until 2016, when Trump got “too crazy.”

“Now he’s just malignant and evil,” he said.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, a resident of North Haven, also came to town. Addressing the crowd at Lincoln Park, Pingree, D-1st District, said she was worried by attempts to roll back environmental regulation in the face of worsening climate change and efforts to restrict access to books in school libraries.

“I’m worried (about) what they’re going to do next, and who they’ll come for next,” Pingree said, drawing applause. “Because it’s going to be all of us if we don’t stand up, fight back and protest.”

Pingree said she stopped at a handful of smaller rallies as she made her way from York to Portland.

More than 800 people lined both sides of Route 1 in Wells around 2 p.m. They echoed chants of “Save our democracy” as motorists drove past, some honking their horns in apparent support.

Wells resident Patricia Ryan Branca said she came to the protest with a sign reading “No ICE in Wells” because she was upset about the local police department’s agreement to support certain Immigration and Customs Enforcement action. That agreement was paused last month after heavy criticism from townspeople and others.

“I couldn’t believe in my town that we would be the only town in the state being trained by ICE,” she said. “I am appalled as a citizen with what is happening in our country.”

STATE HOUSE RALLY

It was a similarly lively scene at the State House, where thousands gathered in the plaza before marching down Capitol Street and across the Memorial Bridge, where traffic was closed. Molly White, an organizer in Augusta, estimated there were around 3,000 protesters outside the State House at around 1 p.m.

White said protesters showed up for a wide range of causes.

“In America, we have no kings and no parades for our president’s birthday,” she said. “That was the intent of the protest, but with what’s happening across the country in Los Angeles, people are angry and sad.”

Augusta’s crowd drew a handful of counter-protesters, who waved American flags emblazoned with Trump’s name and campaign slogans and held signs in support of ICE. One brought a box of bibles.

Among the counter-demonstrators was Dylan Bachelder, who stood among just under a dozen people and said he wanted Chinese nationals who grow illegal marijuana in Maine to be deported.

“This is the first time I’ve ever felt so moved to protest,” Bachelder said. “People start to think that because we support ICE, we are Nazis. A lot of people weren’t willing to come out today … (but) someone has to.”

The national protests were partly orchestrated by the national 50501 Movement, a grassroots campaign of Americans who stand for democracy, which pushed the “no kings” theme, according to the Associated Press.

Dini Metz, founder and steering committee member of Indivisible Cumberland County, which helped organize the Portland action, said it offered attendees a chance to express their “patriotic duty to protest.”

“We’re creating a means by which people can be heard,” Metz said in an interview a few days before the demonstration. “Because that’s as American as apple pie.”

Sympathetic protests sprung up across the globe, including in France and in the United Kingdom, where activists swapped the phrase “no kings” for “no tyrants” in light of King Charles III’s official birthday, the Associated Press reported.

ALONG THE ANDROSCOGGIN

By 9 a.m., hundreds had already gathered near the intersection of Main and School streets in Freeport, carrying signs and waving American flags. Northampton, Massachusetts, resident Janine Jackson noted that Saturday was also Flag Day.

“We want to take it back,” she said, clutching her flagpole. “It’s ours, too.”

The Freeport protest included about 1,000 demonstrators — among them, Sen. Angus King — who remained peaceful throughout the morning, demonstrators and local police said.

King, I-Maine, could hardly make it down the sidewalk without being approached by constituents offering hands to shake. He called the turnout encouraging.

“One of the bulwarks of democracy is the people, and this morning, the people showed up in Freeport,” King said. “It seems like half the town is here.”

As the protesters chanted and cheered, a group of Maine Republicans gathered in the Harraseeket Inn — just down the road — for a breakfast to celebrate Flag Day, the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and Trump’s birthday.

Bill Morrison, president of the Maine Republican Assembly, called the protest “theater,” as he entered the event.

“It’s performance art,” Morrison said.

Sebastian Meade, one of the four primary organizers with Visibility Freeport, said the group planned their rally before hearing about the GOP event.

“I hope some of them come and join us,” he said. None appeared to.

In Androscoggin County, marchers lined the Longley Bridge around noon, chanting “No kings” as a drumbeat rang down the Androscoggin River corridor. Walking in from both the Lewiston and Auburn ends of the bridge, residents from around central Maine came out to join.

Rick Henley and his wife, Flo, from Buckfield, on behalf of their 12 grandchildren, decided that “enough is enough,” Flo said. Donning signs with red, white and blue letters, they said everyone needs to stand up for democracy.

Rick Henley accused Trump of “knocking down every legal barrier there is,” pointing to his attempts to control government spending and his decision to send the military into Los Angeles after immigration raids sparked protests earlier this month.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said troops would remain on the ground until the city was freed from the Democratic mayor and governor’s “burdensome leadership.”

“We’re going to stay here and build our operations until we make sure that we liberate the city of Los Angeles,” Noem told reporters Thursday, moments before guards forced a U.S. senator from the room and handcuffed him.

“I don’t want a dictatorship in this country. I want democracy,” Rick Henley said.

Organizers estimated that about 1,000 people marched.

Azar Burhoe, who is nonbinary, said at the Lewiston-Auburn protest that they have begun to feel less comfortable using their preferred they/them pronouns in public since Trump took office. Burhoe has reverted back to using their birthname and gender assigned at birth on job applications, and their current employer no longer recognizes their gender identity, Burhoe said.

“When I was younger I could come out easily, and … besides like the prejudice that has always been here, there was nothing legal against me,” Burhoe said. And they worry that Republicans could roll back the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, which “will directly affect me.”

Staff Photographers Greg Rec and Brianna Soukup and Staff Writers Emily Duggan, Joe Phelan, Kendra Caruso and Drew Johnson contributed reporting.