A nationwide protest event drew hundreds of citizens to downtown Montgomery on Saturday.

The “No Kings” movement was launched by a coalition of political action groups in response to what protesters describe as authoritarian tactics used by the Trump administration.

Oct. 18 was Montgomery’s second “No Kings” protest, with the first happening in June. The protests from the beginning were intended to be nonviolent.

The two organizations running the event, Montgomery 50501 Freedom Fighters and Alabama Resisters of Indivisible, said that the protest event drew at least 743 citizens, though they expect the turnout may have actually been higher than that number.

Nicole Payne, a spokesperson for Montgomery 50501 Freedom Fighters, said Oct. 18 was a “busy, exciting, and fulfilling day” in what her organization says is a “fight to stop the authoritarian takeover of our nation.”

At the protest, citizens marched from near the Riverfront Park to the Court Square Fountain at intersection of Commerce Street and Dexter Avenue. Attendees held a nonviolent rally that featured speakers, chanting and song.

“Quite a few people who attended chose to show up in inflatable costumes, accentuating the fact that the 50501 and Indivisible movements are nonviolent and joyful, while still being completely and seriously dedicated to opposing any fascist regime — and any attempt of a power-hungry leader to assert himself as a king. We assert that this country will have NO KINGS,” Payne wrote in a statement.

The groups also passed out “Know Your Rights” cards to attendees. The protests focus on educating about and working to preserve First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, which center on restricting the government’s authority.

“We cannot allow the current regime to take away the rights that were guaranteed to us when our country was founded. We fought against monarchs and kings, and authoritarian rule. We cannot allow them to come to power again,” a recent post from the Montgomery 50501 Freedom Fighters on Facebook states.

“These amendments are the iron wall built by our founders to ensure America would never become a monarchy. They stand for the principle that the individual is sovereign over the state, and that liberty is not a grant from the government but an inherent right. Any attempt to weaken them is an attempt to erode the ‘No Kings’ foundation of our republic.”