AUBURN — For Pat Fogg, organizer of the Lewiston-Auburn No Kings rally, Saturday was a day of joy and affirmation for the millions of Americans, and thousands of Mainers, who flooded streets to protest the policies of President Donald Trump.

More and more, Fogg said, people are realizing the harm being done by the Trump administration — from immigration raids where masked agents snatch people off the street, sometimes snaring citizens as well, to cuts in funding for health care and scientific research.

Following Saturday’s rallies, they know too that they are not alone, she said.

“It was so great for the people,” Fogg said Monday. “They are so happy because their voices are being heard, people are listening, and people are paying attention and joining all the time.”

Verified counts were hard to come by. But Fogg said the rally Saturday, centered around Great Falls Plaza in Auburn and stretching the length of Longley Bridge into Lewiston, drew at least twice as many people as a June protest, when 1,200 were counted, and maybe as many as 3,000.

About 2,600 No Kings rallies were held across the country. Organizers said the protest, largely peaceful, drew nearly 7 million people, more than the estimated 5 million that turned out nationwide for the June rally.

“The message is getting through,” Fogg said. “It has taken people a long time to want to hear it. It’s happening.”

National Republican leaders, meanwhile, dismissed Saturday’s rallies as extremist, with some, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, referring to the events as “hate America” protests.

“The irony of the message is pretty clear for everyone,” Johnson said. “If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now. If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise out on the (National) Mall, by the way, which was open because President Trump hasn’t closed it.”

President Trump on Saturday posted to social media an AI-generated video of him wearing a crown and flying a jet that dropped feces on American protesters.

“You know, they’re saying they’re referring to me as a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday. “I’m not.”

In Auburn on Saturday, the crowd grew quickly in anticipation of the noon start. Protesters carried homemade signs of all kinds, and quite a few wore costumes: a chipmunk, a lobster, a few chickens and several frogs, drawing on similar costumes popular with protests against immigration actions in Portland, Oregon.

Fogg said it is important for people to maintain their joy through hard times. “It’s supposed to be a fun day too,” she said Saturday before the event. “I told people to have fun.”

About a half-hour into the rally, Maine humorist Tim Sample entertained and worked up the protesters.

By that time, people filled Great Falls Plaza and lined both sides of Longley Bridge into Lewiston a few rows deep, cheering, chanting and getting mostly supportive honks from passing cars.

Sample brought with him a sign that showed Marines raising a flag over Iwo Jima in World War II, with the words “Antifa circa 1945,” using the term for anti-fascists.

Nate Miller of Turner said he was protesting in honor of his grandfathers, who fought against fascist regimes in World War II.

Asked what was at risk from President Trump, Miller said, “The Constitution. Birthright citizenship. Habeas corpus. People are being profiled, kidnapped and detained because of the color of their skin. That’s un-American.”

As the crowd at Longley Bridge cheered, rang noisemakers and held signs, Marlis Whittier of Auburn said she was glad to be alongside others who recognize the danger the country is in, and are willing to do something about it.

“I’m glad to be where people have some sense,” she said.

Standing on Longley Bridge, Emma Medeiros of Lewiston said she put the actions of President Trump alongside actions by King George III that were decried in the Declaration of Independence. She said she found them stunningly similar.

“It’s word for word,” she said. “Do you really need any other evidence? Now he wants to call us domestic terrorists.”

The anger in the country is palpable, and Trump is making it worse, she said.

“We need to come together,” she said. “We’ve got to find some common ground.”

Ann Oskam of Auburn, a senior citizen and special education teacher, said she is worried about the Trump administration’s cuts to education funding and health care, including Medicare Advantage. “It’s open enrollment. Half the plans are gone,” she said. “It’s a scary time.”

“People are afraid,” Fogg said Monday. “It’s a frightening time.”

However, she said, the protests Saturday show Americans are coming around to the danger posed by the Trump administration.

“Ultimately it means that we will succeed,” she said.

Also speaking Saturday were Attorney General Aaron Frey and Gov. Janet Mills, who recently announced she is running for U.S. Senate.

Mills thanked the crowd for taking action and expressed optimism in their cause.

“We’re going to get through this thing,” she said. “We are going to turn Congress around.”

There were no arrests at Saturday’s rally in Auburn, and no counterprotesters to speak of, though the occasional passing motorist let their opposition be known amid the cheers and supportive honks.

“We have to continue to be happy,” Fogg told the crowd as the rally wound down. “Because that’s what they don’t want.”