NEW YORK (RNS) — Hundreds gathered at Central Park’s Columbus Circle entrance on Saturday morning (March 28) for an interfaith vigil ahead of New York City’s “No Kings” march to protest the Trump administration. 

The Rev. Paul Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, kicked off the event by noting the importance of faith communities taking a place within the “No Kings” movement.

“Faithful people from all different backgrounds have to show up for ‘No Kings’ because authoritarians and would-be kings … their main pillar is often religious folks who want to prop up autocracy so they have proximity to power and impose their idea on what faith is on all the rest of us,” he told the crowd gathered in front of the USS Maine National Monument.

In his hands, Raushenbush held a sign that read “Yes to religious freedom for all” and “Christian Nationalism” crossed out.

Saturday was the third edition of the No Kings rally and drew millions across the country, and in Europe, for protests in more than 3,500 cities, including Washington, Miami, San Francisco and in Europe.

The marches, first held in June and again in October, denounce what protestors see as executive overreach. “Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant. But this is America, and power belongs to the people — not to wannabe kings or their billionaire cronies,” reads the movement’s website.

Saturday’s flagship rally was held in St. Paul, Minn., where Alex Pretti and Renée Good were fatally shot in January by federal agents deployed in the state as part of U.S. Immigration Enforcement’s “Metro surge” operation.

Minnesota clergy who had led widespread efforts to counter ICE in the Twin Cities spoke at the rally. Rev. JaNaé Bates, co-director of the interfaith group ISAIAH, said many people of faith believed the Trump administration’s policies clash with their faith principles.

“These are direct affronts to the faith that we profess and what Christ calls us to do,” Bates told Religion News Service before the rally. She was joined at the rally by Rabbi Arielle Lekach-Rosenberg of congregation Shir Tikvah and Imam Makram El-Amin, a member of the Minneapolis downtown clergy.

The New York vigil was coordinated by organizers of “Multifaith Mondays,” a weekly pro-democracy prayer vigil held since last March, and Interfaith Alliance, a religious freedom advocacy group.

As Jewish communities prepare for Passover this week and Christians for Holy Week, speakers connected the vigil to the two religious holidays.

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, senior rabbi emerita at congregation Beit Simchat Torah, drew parallels between Pharaoh’s rule and President Trump’s governance. Passover, which starts  April 1, commemorates the Exodus story of the Jewish people, led by Moses, fleeing Egypt through God’s help.

“Are we the Israelites yearning for freedom, or are we Pharaoh?” she asked the crowd. “In a place in which Pharaoh dominates the news. It is on us to remember Pharaoh does not win in the end, we all must be Moses organizing our own small worlds, our own small communities.”

Some attendees also waved makeshift Palm leaves, made of green foam pool noodles pierced with green sticks, to commemorate Palm Sunday (March 29), which marks the start of Holy Week – the final stretch of the Lenten season culminating in Easter Sunday. The Palm Sunday tradition echoes the story of Jesus’ triumphal return to Jerusalem as the faithful waved palm leaves along his path.

Laura Miraz, a member of Riverside Church who helped craft the dozens of palm leaves, said she waved them as a symbol of unity during the vigil.

“Waving the palms today is a celebration of the people of God who are coming together — people of all faiths and beliefs — to stand up for one thing, and that is democracy for the liberty of all people, regardless of gender, documentation,” she said.

The crowd chanted songs that have become staples of progressive religious activist groups over the past year, including “We will protect each other.” The song, which was co-written by Martín Urbach, was taught to religious activists at a “Singing Resistance” event in March at Riverside Church.

The vigil also featured a Sikh prayer from Gurvir Singh Sidhu, a state policy manager with the Sikh Coalition, and a Buddhist reflection shared by Sarah Dōjin Emerson, a Zen priest with the Brooklyn Zen Center.

At the corner of 66th Street and Central Park, a small group of Jewish activists observed a special Shabbat service ahead of the rally. The period of rest, which stretches from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset and can include restrictions on travel and electronics, makes it difficult for some Jews to join protests.

“I have been going to rallies for a long time, and one of the things that some of us have started thinking about is, how could we bring in some of the Shabbat spirit and let it infuse our experience of ‘No Kings,’” said 71-year-old Sharon Bronznick, a member of “Jews for freedom,” who helped coordinate the service.

Leaders of the vigil insisted on the importance of sustaining the momentum built over the last year among the city’s religious activists beyond the “No Kings” march.

Rev. Adriene Thorne, senior minister at Riverside Church, noted the importance of faith communities getting engaged at a hyper-local level.

“When things calm down in the city and in the nation, faith leaders can get very focused on the things that are happening in their particular communities,” she said after the vigil.

Raushenbush said Interfaith Alliance will host a national town hall on Tuesday (March 31) to advise faith groups on ways to get involved in resisting ICE operations and in the 2026 midterm elections.

“This is the springboard for the next thing,” he said.