Thousands of people lined both sides of Sequim’s West Washington Street Saturday stretching all the way from the River Road roundabout east to almost the roundabout at S. 9th Street to participate in the country’s third No Kings Day rally. They came to protest the Trump administration’s policies on Iran, immigration and more.  Organized by the Sequim chapter of Indivisible, Sequim Police Chief Mike Hill says Indivisible organizers reported to him more than 4,300 people turned out for the peaceful, noisy rally, surpassing the previous No Kings rally in Sequim October 18 by an estimated thousand participants, making it the largest protest rally in recent years, perhaps even in Sequim history.

Wearing a variety of costumes including inflatable animals, and all sorts of placards and signs ranging from things like “Ice is the new Gestapo”, “Hate Will Not Make Us Great”, and

A man named Bill said he came to express his support for democracy.

“I’m having a ball out here expressing my first amendment rights. My stance is express my views. As you know, we have a government that’s just out of control and I want to preserve our democracy. 

About two dozen women – the Peninsula Handmaids – dressed as figures from the television series Handmaids Tale – paraded silently each holding signs saying thing’s like “Women’s rights equal Human Rights”, “1,000 Confirmed Epstein  Victims” and “Hell Hath No Fury like 157 million Women Scorned.”

The co-founder of the No Kings organization Leah Greenberg said on a March 21st  “Saturday Coffee Klatch” conversation with former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich the rallies are not intended to be partisan, they’re intended to as broad coalition of whoever is willing to be together with each other.

 “We are trying to normalize that it is something that everybody does together. It’s not a subculture that is just for activists.  It’s actually engaging a wide spread of people who may have not been involved politically or being actively politically involved.”

According to organizers, approximately eight million people nationwide participated in more than 3,300 "No Kings" protests. The rallies have been  characterized by organizers as potentially the largest single-day protest in US history, according to the Guardian newspaper.

A large No Kings rally was held in Port Angeles along Lincoln Street at the county courthouse.  No information has been published about how many were there.  However, noted entertainer and comedian Paula Poundstone was among them. She was in Port Angeles for a performance Saturday night at Field Hall Events Center.

Indivisible Sequim organizers say they continue to host peaceful rallies at 3 p.m. Fridays at the intersection of Washington Street and Sequim Avenue.

Sequim Fire Chief Justin Grider updated the City Council Monday, March 23 on the success of the Saturday, March 21 training exercise that allowed the fire department to set fire to and burn down an old, abandoned house at 1610 S. 3^rd Avenue.  During a power point presentation Grider said 47 firefighters from Fire District 3 participated in the exercise including 30 career firefighters, 11 volunteers and 6 explorers.

“We trained all day and it was phenomenal. We started at 0700 and about 2:15 in the afternoon we began our burn. We got 14 different evolutions done out of the 16 planned before the house began to fail. And so we pulled it down and we – well you can see the results there. We started with a house and ended up with a big barn fire and left a big burning pile of rubble.”

He said there we no injuries and no major equipment damages. The exercise provided over 305 hours of live burn training.

“It was fantastic training.”

Grider says he himself was not physically present at the exercise. He was at the City yards down the street where he and City Communications manager Barbara Hannah were explaining what was going on and answering questions from the public as they watched a live video feed that had been set up by the city to view the exercise as it unfolded.

”I think it went really well. We couldn’t have done it without you and just want to say thank you on behalf of Fire District 3 for allowing us to do that. So…I appreciate you all.”

PHOTO:  Clallam County Fire District 3