CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) Thousands of people lined both sides of a half-mile stretch of Seminole Trail, Charlottesville’s local version of the “No Kings” demonstrations held across the nation Saturday afternoon to protest the Trump Administration.

“You have to be willing to stand up for democracy,” Indivisible Charlottesville’s Dan Doernberg told Cville Right Now on Saturday.

“People have to not be complacent. Have to not just sit back and hope that someone else will be the one to make the change they want to see.”

Carrying colorful – in decoration and language – signs and chanting and cheering, the demonstrators extended as far north as the U.S. post office and as far south as the Exxon station across the intersection at Hydraulic Road.

Doernberg said Indivisible Charlottesville estimated about 6,800 demonstrators turned out Saturday afternoon, making it the largest showing yet for the organization. Its “Hands Off” rally in April drew between 4,500 and 5,000 people, Doernberg said.

“There is a very strong feeling that the country is really at an inflection point,” Doernberg said. “We feel like it’s just critical that people stand up and be counted and express their views.”

That happened across the country Saturday, the same day the Trump Administration held a military parade in Washington D.C., one that Sen. Mark Warner told a Charlottesville Town Hall meeting Saturday morning would have a $44 million price tag for taxpayers.

Hundreds of cities across the U.S. held their own “No Kings” rallies on Saturday, according to the Associated Press, including numerous locales in Virginia.

In Culpeper, over 600 people turned out to demonstrate at two different locations for rallies organized by the Culpeper County Democratic Committee, eclipsing the turnout for that group’s April “Hands Off” demonstration by a few hundred.

“We had a lot of support from people going by, honking and giving us the thumbs up and waving. And they had signs on their own cars,” Dan Else, an official with the organization, told Cville Right Now. “And we had a few people who gave us a thumbs down, but that’s fine. We were out there to demonstrate everybody’s First Amendment rights, so that’s fine.”

A 21-year-old Culpeper man, Joseph R. Checklick Jr. was arrested for driving his SUV into demonstrators who were leaving the event, according to Culpeper Police. One person was struck, but no injuries were reported.

Friday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he had ordered the National Guard to be on stand-by during Saturday’s “No Kings” events around the Commonwealth, a decision both Else and Doernberg said they found disappointing, considering the peaceful nature of previous rallies.

“I saw a number of (social media) posts by people who obviously disagree with us and who felt very threatened by what we were going to do,” Else said. “All of them were expressing interest in meeting force with force, but we had no intention of forcing anybody to do anything.

They essentially frightened themselves into a state of heightened alert.”

Organizers at both locales had personnel trained to de-escalate situations if the demonstrations turned away from the peaceful design, but that never turned out to be necessary Saturday.

The biggest issue during the rallies were a small number of people who struggled with effects from the heat and humidity.

Doernberg said the show of strength in numbers served a dual purpose.

It showed like-minded people around the Commonwealth and the country that they’re far from alone, and it made a public pronouncement for government officials.

“It does send a message to our elected representatives and people in government. Look, millions and millions of Americans turned out today to say that Flag Day should not be a celebration of the current leader’s birthday,” Doernberg said. “We don’t, in America, do military parades, generally, to show, ‘We’re big, we’re strong, we’re tough.’ America’s more about celebrating our constitution and our civil rights and American democracy. That’s what we should be celebrating on Flag Day and that’s what we feel these No Kings demonstrations were really about.”