The most recent No Kings protest in the US is one of the biggest, with an estimated 8 million people attending all across the country. Since it’s a protest against Trump, things got heated, of course, and one alleged site in Georgia even kicked out a Christian preacher for trying to preach at the crowd. When he initially didn’t want to leave, the bystanders ended up branding the Christian as a fascist, among other insults.
The incident occurred over the weekend at a site in Atlanta, Georgia, which X news page Everything Georgia claimed to be a “No Kings” rally. One of the pedestrians noticed a Christian man wearing a “King of Kings” shirt, setting up his own sound system on the streets, and afterward preaching about Jesus Christ and Judgement Day. Hence, the bystanders quickly flocked to him, but not for the reason he expected. Instead, the bystanders started heckling him.
The woman in the video even started screaming at the Christian man, “Jesus would be out there feeding the homeless, not harassing people… Go be holy somewhere else and do something productive!” Another hurled insults at the Christian man, yelling, “Fascist!” One man even tried to yank away the sound system’s cord.
The situation got tense enough for a Fulton County Sheriff to intervene and tell the Christian preacher to move somewhere else. One of the bystanders tried to have a dialogue with the preacher, explaining that he was upstaging the whole event by broadcasting too loudly. Thankfully, the preacher eventually left and moved elsewhere, apparently due to the sheriff’s intervention.
The Incident Caused a Debate on the First Amendment
The incident has gone viral on Georgia’s social media pages, where other Christians argued that what the bystanders did was “Disgusting behavior. Harassing and intimidating a man who is calmly exercising his First Amendment right on public property should not be tolerated.” Some even called for the sheriff involved to be sanctioned because they preferred that she side with the Christian preacher.
Still, some commenters claimed that the event, which took place specifically in the Little Five Points Fest, was more of a spring market festival. It’s not clear whether No Kings rally participants were present in the area, though, given the bystanders’ vernacular in the video, it was easy for viewers to assume that there’s a political overlap between the event and the rally.
Hence, a lot of people also called out the Christian preacher, with some even calling him an opportunist, “He’s using aesthetics to grift. Better off at piedmont park. This was not the time or the place,” claims an alleged Georgian. Another ranted, “When will these people realize that free speech doesn’t apply to amplified noise pollution? He knew he wasn’t wanted there, and then played the victim card.”
