By Amid a national wave of demonstrations aimed at resisting what organizers call authoritarian overreach in President Trump’s second term, an episode in Chicago underscored how quickly protest rhetoric can slip into menace. Video captured by Christopher Sweat of GrayStak Media shows a man, standing near a Progressive Labor Party sign, urging listeners to take up arms and single out Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as enemies to be eliminated.
“You gotta grab a gun, we gotta turn around the guns on this fascist system,” he shouted, according to The Daily Caller. “These ICE agents gotta get shot and wiped out. The same machinery that’s on full display right there has to get wiped out!”
EXCLUSIVE: Yesterday in Chicago, on the perimeter of the NO KINGS rally, an activists speaking in front of a Progressive Labor Party sign exclaims, “You gotta grab a gun, we gotta turn around the guns on this fascist system. These ICE agents gotta get shot and wiped out. The same… pic.twitter.com/zKkiyVKe9J
— Christopher Sweat (@SweatEm) October 19, 2025
The remarks arrived against a backdrop of rising threats against immigration officers—a fact that federal authorities say has complicated the everyday work of ICE personnel and sharpened security concerns for those agents and their families. In recent months, prosecutors have brought charges in episodes tied to online doxxing and live-streamed harassment of officers; other reports document menacing phone calls to relatives of ICE staff. These incidents, officials contend, are symptomatic of a broader climate in which inflammatory speech sometimes presages targeted action.
The Chicago outburst was not an isolated aberration. Across several cities, individuals attending “No Kings” demonstrations — a loosely coordinated series of rallies that organizers say drew millions to hundreds of local gatherings — expressed hostility that went well beyond routine dissent. In Seattle, one participant told a reporter he wanted to kill a senior White House staffer; in Portland, Maine, another celebrated the thought of the president’s obituary as a birthday present. At the same Chicago event, a separate protester made what appeared to be a throat-slitting gesture toward opponents flying a flag for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
One person was seen holding a Mexican flag while mimicking shooting Charlie Kirk in the neck.
No Kings protestor with a Mexican flag gives a buIIet in the neck gesture to a Charlie Kirk fan pic.twitter.com/VCBjQ47XD0
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 19, 2025
Unsurprisingly, the protestor is a teacher:
It's been 36 hours.
This is Lucy Martinez, confirmed to be a teacher at Nathan Hale Elementary in Chicago.
The school has deleted any presence online, including X page and official school webpage.
The school has NOT yet provided any official response. pic.twitter.com/Emq1QgSd84
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) October 20, 2025
Organizers of the “No Kings” movement insist their aim is constitutional defense — to reject what they describe as a slide toward personal rule and coercion. Their website frames the effort as a mass repudiation of “fear, force, or one man’s power grab.” Yet the movement’s size and diffuse leadership have made it difficult to police margins where calls for violence fester.
In several cities, the movement was sponsored by literal communists, and many Democratic leaders were more than happy to share the stage with them.
Your “No Kings” Rally is literally sponsored by the Communist Party https://t.co/3LqLkGvjVZ pic.twitter.com/iNllVBRaQ8
— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) October 16, 2025
That gap—between stated democratic aims and the extremist fringes that sometimes attach themselves to mass protest—poses a lingering challenge for law-enforcement authorities and for the civic actors trying to steer the demonstrations toward lawful, peaceful dissent.
[Read More: Trump Has To Change Security Now]
