{"id":59313,"date":"2026-03-28T21:31:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T21:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/third-no-kings-protest-draws-650-to-veterans-park-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T18:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:31:48","slug":"third-no-kings-protest-draws-650-to-veterans-park-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/third-no-kings-protest-draws-650-to-veterans-park-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Third No Kings protest draws 650 to Veterans Park in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Protesters
Protesters discuss the war in Iran and the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal immigration enforcement agents at the No Kings protest in Veterans Park on Saturday. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Intermittent honks down Main Street Saturday morning signified the third coming of the No Kings protest to Cortez.<\/p>\n

As more than 3,000 other No Kings protests rallied across the globe, Montezuma County\u2019s gathering saw veterans, retirees and advocacy groups wear costumes and hold handmade signs opposing the war in Iran and the federal immigration enforcement crackdown.<\/p>\n

Sean Benson, a veteran who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he attended to voice opposition to Trump\u2019s conduct of war in Iran without congressional authorization. His grandfather, father and stepson were all veterans of various conflicts, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to stop,\u201d Benson said. \u201cI can love my country and support its people without shedding any more blood. It\u2019s been generations and we\u2019re still doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A group of veterans tabled for the No Kings protest in Cortez on Saturday, citing opposition to the war in Iran as their motivation for coming. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Organizers of Cortez\u2019s Angry Knit-In, a gathering of fiber arts enthusiasts opposing many Trump administration policies, showed up for similar reasons. They sat in lawn chairs and knit red hats, alluding to historic Norwegian headwear protesting the Nazi occupation.<\/p>\n

While they\u2019ve attended similar protests before, organizer Megg Heath said she added the phrase \u201cNo War\u201d to her protest sign, which already included \u201cNo ICE\u201d and \u201cNo Kings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve lost one Coloradan already, and I don\u2019t want to see that happen anymore,\u201d Heath said, referencing the death of a soldier formerly based in Colorado Springs in the new conflict.<\/p>\n

\"The
The organizers of \u201cAngry Knit-In\u201d craft red hats inspired by a Norwegian design worn to oppose Nazi occupation in the 1940s at the No Kings protest in Veteran's Park on Saturday. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

While many of the messages from protesters were serious, creative expression and joy were cornerstones of the event.<\/p>\n

Angela Atkinson and her fellow co-organizers of Dignity Project, a Montezuma County-based immigration advocacy organization, draped themselves in orange butterfly wings and moved up and down the two blocks of protesters, receiving cheers and greetings. \u201cThe only orange monarch we want are the ones that pollinate our flowers!\u201d reads their motto.<\/p>\n

\"Angela
Angela Atkinson (second from right) and her fellow co-organizers of Diginity Project received chuckles and praise for their \u201corange monarch\u201d costumes at the No Kings protest in Cortez on Saturday. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt is so important to know that joy can coexist \u2013 in fact it must coexist \u2013 with the terror in our small communities,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n

Julia Anderson, one of the protest organizers from the grassroots nonprofit Indivisible, argued that despite Cortez\u2019s population, small-town protests can influence national issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery town has a national influence right now,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThere are some towns that might have 10 people showing up and there\u2019s some that might have 10,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The third iteration of the No Kings protest in Cortez saw hundreds of people line two blocks of Main Street, with a few counter-protesters intermingling. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Regardless, she said, these events drive change. On Cortez\u2019s streets, she said she has seen people warm up to protesters by attending events or donating more to her organization\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

According to Anderson, 650 people attended the event, down a couple hundred from the No Kings protest in October. However, she said the turnout was still significant because it coincided with the end of spring break.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust listen to what we hear the whole time,\u201d she said in an interview with The Journal, <\/em>gesturing toward the road where cars passed. Every few drivers honked or waved at protesters, who smiled and waved back.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

crowd, smaller than October\u2019s, protested against the war in Iran and federal immigration enforcement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5737,5736,5735,5741],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-59313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","category-newsletter","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60537,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59313\/revisions\/60537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59313"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=59313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}