DENVER — Hundreds of Coloradans in Douglas County will mobilize Saturday for an anti-Trump rally, even after the town of Parker tried to shut them down, organizers say.

The Parker-led group will join thousands of people in cities across the country hosting “No Kings” rallies on Saturday, President Donald Trump’s birthday, “in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his allies,” event organizers said.

“I’ve been to rallies in Denver, and they are so exciting, but it’s sort of like being in an echo chamber because Denver is blue,” organizer Carolyn Williamson said. “It takes courage to stand up in Parker.”

Williamson said she’s hosted other rallies and events in Parker before and felt lucky to get 25 to 50 people to show up. When hundreds of people started registering for her No Kings event, she couldn’t believe it.

Safety was her first priority, especially with the attack on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder at the top of her mind, she said.

Williamson requested an event permit from the town, but said Parker denied the request because the it had already granted one to Parker Days — a three-day, third-party festival that happens along and near Mainstreet in downtown Parker.

She changed plans to break up the protest into smaller groups at intersections along Parker Road, only for town officials to tell her to stand down, she said.

“In no uncertain terms, they told me to cancel it,” she said, remembering a joint call from the town’s attorney and chief of police. “They said, ‘You can say whatever you want, but not on the public sidewalks during Parker Days’.”

Town officials offered Williamson a chance to reschedule the rally and were “disappointed to hear that the event is going forward,” spokesperson Andy Anderson said in an emailed statement. Williamson said that would defeat the point of the national movement.

“Due to the nature and size of the festival, much of town staffing and resources, including those of the Parker Police Department, are allocated to managing Parker Days and ensuring the safety of all participants and attendees,” Anderson stated. “This significantly limits the remaining resources available … to ensure the safety of any individuals participating in protests or rallies or any other person within the town.”

“The town of Parker absolutely recognizes individuals’ First Amendment rights, but must balance those rights with the rights and safety of all other individuals,” Anderson stated.

He said the simultaneous events will negatively impact safety and the police department’s ability to respond to both routine calls and any incidents at the protest.

Williamson said she initially agreed to the Parker officials’ demands, but dozens of people registered for the rally emailed her to let her know they’d be showing up anyway.

“The First Amendment protects the right to protest in public spaces like on sidewalks, plazas, and parks,” American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado spokesperson Pablo de la Rosa Santiago said in a statement. “Local government’s ability to restrict expressive conduct in these areas is very limited and cannot be based on the content of the speech, whether it is controversial, or goes against preferred political beliefs.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 400 people were planning to join groups along Parker Road.

Ever since she reposted the event on Mobilize, a website that lists all the No Kings protest locations around the nation, that number has kept ticking up.

“It was very encouraging and heartwarming that so many people reached out to say thank you for having this in Parker,” Williamson said. “We all thought we were the only ones who felt this way.”

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