On the National Mall, enclosed within almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) of high-security fencing, nearly 7,000 soldiers and about 150 military vehicles paraded to intermittent cheers.
Rain had threatened to wash out the event but it never came, much to the relief of those lining the four-lane street that runs past the White House, where Trump stood watching and frequently saluting the passing troops.
The crowd was mostly quiet as soldiers in uniforms dating back to the 1700s marched past, bar the occasional shouts of "Thank you, Army!" that spurred cheers and whoops.
Many wore Trump's signature red "Make America Great Again" baseball caps, but others attending made clear they supported the Army -- but opposed the norm-bending president.
"Personally, I'm not a fan of Trump, but I'm a fan of the Army," said Andrew Smith, 24, whose brother serves in the military.
"I feel like we can separate politics and what we stand for, and then hopefully get along," he added.
- 'Beat Fascism!' -
Marty Wrin echoed the sentiments expressed among the crowds of protesters gathered outside the parade area in Washington, and around the country Saturday.
"I'm proud to be American," insisted the 56-year-old IT worker from Washington, wearing a hat saying "resist" and holding a sign saying "Go Army. Beat Fascism!"
"I'm proud of our democracy, and I'm worried about our democracy right now for the first time in my life," he told AFP.
Wrin said he was impressed by the parade, but did not like something he associated with dictatorships happening on US streets.
"It's the Army being used by Trump to make himself feel more powerful," he said.
With cloudy skies overhead, people stood on tiptoes to catch a glimpse of the military gear on display.
Several children sat on their parents' shoulders to get a better view and waved back to soldiers sitting atop tanks and other armored vehicles.
Michele Sabat, who said she had attended several past Trump rallies, told AFP she was thrilled that she had traveled from Pennsylvania to watch the parade.
"I wanted to honor the military, I feel it's the right thing to do. They protect us, they save us, and you've got to respect them," the retired 68-year-old said.
She sat on a curb next to Camila Rodriguez, 30, watching as thousands of troops marched by in the largest such parade in decades.
Rodriguez, an auditor from Boston, said she was impressed by what she saw.
"All the troops... There's so many of them. So anything to support them," she said.
"I will always be here for that."
Trump flexes military might at parade as protests sweep US
Washington (AFP) June 15, 2025 -
President Donald Trump hosted the largest US military parade in decades on his 79th birthday on Saturday, as protesters rallied across the country to accuse him of acting like a dictator.
Trump hailed the United States as the "hottest country in the world" after watching tanks, aircraft and troops file past him in Washington to honor the 250th anniversary of the US army.
But it formed a stark split screen with turmoil at home and abroad, as police used teargas to disperse protesters in Los Angeles and US ally Israel traded missile fire with Iran in a rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Trump's parade on an overcast night in Washington came after hundreds of thousands of "No Kings" demonstrators thronged the streets in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Houston and Atlanta.
Trump largely avoided his usual domestic political diatribes in an unusually brief speech, and instead focused on praising the US army, saying that they "fight, fight, fight, and they win, win, win."
The display of military might comes as Trump asserts his power domestically and on the international stage.
In his address to the parade, Trump sent a warning to Washington's adversaries of "total and complete" defeat, with the United States increasingly at risk of getting tangled up in Israel's conflict with Iran.
"Time and again, America's enemies have learned that if you threaten the American people, our soldiers are coming for you," Trump said.
- 'Happy Birthday' -
Trump had openly dreamed since his first term as president of having a grand military parade, of the type more often seen in Moscow or Pyongyang than Washington.
The last such parade in the United States was at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
When it came, Trump stood and saluted on a stage outside the White House as tanks rumbled past, aircraft roared overhead and nearly 7,000 troops marched past.
Troops and military hardware from different eras of US history passed by, with an announcer reeling off victories in battles with Japanese, German, Chinese and Vietnamese forces in past wars.
The army said the parade cost up to $45 million.
But while the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" and there were occasional chants of "USA! USA!", the atmosphere was less intense than one of the barnstorming rallies that swept Trump to power.
The White House said that "over 250,000 patriots showed up" for the event, without providing evidence. Communications Director Steven Cheung described the "No Kings" protests as a "complete and utter failure."
"No Kings" organizers said protesters gathered in hundreds of cities, with AFP journalists seeing large crowds in several cities.
Organizers said they were protesting against Trump's dictatorial overreach, and in particular what they described as the strongman symbolism of the parade.
"I think people are mad as hell," Lindsay Ross, a 28-year-old musician, told AFP in New York, where tens of thousands of people rallied.
Some protesters targeted Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida -- while a small group even gathered in Paris.
"I think it's disgusting," protester Sarah Hargrave, 42, said in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, describing Trump's parade as a "display of authoritarianism."
- 'Display of authoritarianism' -
Thousands turned out in Los Angeles to protest Trump's deployment of troops in the country's second-largest city following clashes sparked by immigration raids.
After a day of largely peaceful protests, police unexpectedly began moving people away from the protest area, igniting confusion and anger among demonstrators caught off guard and unsure of where to go.
Police on horseback pushed crowds back as law enforcement fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades hours ahead of an 8:00 pm (0300 GMT) curfew.
A police spokeswoman said a "small group of agitators" had begun throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at officers, prompting the decision to order the crowd to disperse.
If people refused to leave, "we will make arrests," she said, adding: "We have been patient all day."
Violence shattered the calm elsewhere, too, with a shooting at a demonstration in the western US city of Salt Lake City leaving at least one person critically injured, according to police.
The killing of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband Saturday in the northern state of Minnesota -- in what the governor called a targeted attack -- also cast a pall over the parade.
Trump was quick to condemn the attacks outside Minneapolis in which former state speaker Melissa Hortman was killed along with her husband, while another state lawmaker and his wife were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
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