Canyon Residents Join Santa Monica ‘No Kings’ Protest

Boca resident Judi Jensen pauses on her walk home after the No Kings protest in Santa Monica.

By Laurel Busby

News & Information Editor

Some Canyon residents participated in the No Kings protest centered at Montana and Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica on Saturday.

Organizers designed the event as a “national day of action and mass mobilization in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his allies,” according to an event website.

An estimated 10,000 people spread along the green band of Palisades Park that overlooks the Pacific, according to Judi Jensen, one of the Canyon attendees. The crowd was so large that it eventually spilled onto Ocean Avenue and spread down the block from Montana to Palisades Ave.

Around noon, people “ just started walking in the street, yelling, and keeping their signs up in the air,” said Jensen, a Boca resident. “I was surprised that happened, but no one stopped them or even said anything. They had been keeping traffic going on the street before that. Several motor cops had ridden by. I did not see any cops at all in the crowd.”

As she hoisted her handmade “No Kings” sign, Jensen spotted friends, her neighbor Brin Hill, who came with his family, and other Canyon residents, such as Judy White who attended with some of her neighbors.

“I really loved the signs [and] was very happy to see that I certainly am not the only one who is dismayed by what is going on,” Jensen said. “It felt good to be in such a large group of people who feel the same way as I do—exhilarating actually.”

A crowd of marching protestors along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Photo: Judi Jensen