WEST PALM BEACH -- Thousands of Floridians turned out at dozens of sites around the state Saturday to express their disagreement with various Trump administration policies in what organizers called "No Kings Day".
In Tampa and Orlando, large crowds gathered downtown Saturday afternoon, while protesters in Fort Lauderdale lined State Road A1A around lunchtime.
In West Palm Beach, protesters eyed President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, marching over the bridge right to the Palm Beach town limits. Protests aren't allowed on the Palm Beach side because the area is considered a security zone.
Protesters' complaints include the efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration.
There were scattered problems. Ocala police made three arrests, of one protester and two counter protesters, during a downtown demonstration. One person was arrested with a pair of brass knuckles. In Flagler County, Sheriff Rick Staly told Fox 35 his deputies had to give a driver a "stern" warning after causing trouble in traffic. He said about two hundred people took part in three demonstrations around Flagler.
But Jacksonville's sheriff, TK Waters, thanked residents for avoiding trouble, saying his officers didn't have to make any arrests.
Some protesters in Cocoa were upset at Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey's warnings that protesters who engaged in violence or blocked traffic would face dog bites, arrests, or worse, and that anyone attacking police would be "shot graveyard dead." They told Fox 35 they felt comments by Ivey, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, and Governor Ron DeSantis "put a target on (their) backs."
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