NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — A giant orange balloon depicting President Donald Trump in a diaper towered over one “No Kings” protest Saturday, as tens of thousands thronged streets across the United States to decry the president’s policies.

Protest organisers expected rallies in all 50 US states, calling them the largest since Trump returned to office in January, with the aim of “rejecting authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarisation of our democracy”.

Wielding signs with messages like “No KKKings!”, “No crown for the clown” and “The Trump fascist regime must go now!”, the protests stood in stark contrast to the massive military parade planned in Washington later Saturday.

That parade was meant to commemorate the founding of the US Army, but also fell on the president’s 79th birthday.

In New York alone, tens of thousands of people, wearing raincoats and carrying colourful umbrellas, marched down Fifth Avenue in the downpour to the sound of drums, bells and crowd chants of “Hey, hey, oh, oh, Donald Trump has got to go!”

Actors Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo were seen getting drenched among the protesters.

“It is essential for us to demonstrate that democracy is still strong in this country,” said Vikas Mehta, a 45-year-old doctor who was taking part in the demonstration with his wife and two children.

“We also want to show our children that… when democracy was threatened,… we chose to participate,” he told AFP.

Nearby, a man carried a photo montage showing Marilyn Monroe delivering her famous rendition of ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President.’ But instead of a kiss, she is making an obscene gesture.

A few blocks away, Polly Shulman was preparing to join the march with her “Protect the Constitution” sign.

“I’m here because I’m miserable and outraged about how this Administration is destroying the ideals of the American Constitution and committing many illegal and immoral acts,” the 62-year-old museum employee told AFP.

The most shocking thing, she said, was “the illegal deportations of law-abiding residents who did nothing wrong, and who have the right to due process”.

They are “being kidnapped and disappeared and sent to torture prisons in foreign countries”, she lamented.

In March, the Trump Administration expelled more than 250 Venezuelans to a mega-prison in El Salvador after accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which it has declared a terrorist organisation.

“I think people are mad as hell,” Lindsay Ross, a 28-year-old musician, told AFP.

“What we’re doing today is showing up in masses, showing the Administration that we’re not going to take this.”

Massive “No Kings” protests were also underway in Los Angeles, which in recent days has been rocked by demonstrations over the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown, as federal agents carried out brutal arrests of even law-abiding people without papers.

On Saturday, protesters gathered in front of federal buildings shouting “You are not welcome here” at some of the 4,000 National Guard members and 700 US Marines that Trump dispatched to the city against the wishes of city and state authorities.

With a giant orange Trump-in-a-diaper balloon towering above them, thousands filled the city streets, sporting slogans like “No faux-king way” and “Impeach Trump” as music played and law enforcement looked on.

Members of Russian feminist protest and performance art group Pussy Riot held up a large red banner in front of LA city hall warning: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Russia.”

Iris Rodriguez, 44, explained that her family arrived in the United States without papers.

“I find it really, really personal… If this was my mom, if this were the 80s, this would be happening to her,” she told AFP.

“How could I not come and support other people who love their families just as much as I love my mom?” she asked.

“I was a little scared, but I refuse to be too scared to not come.”