United States and Canada Overview: March 2026

Demonstration trends

This section provides key figures on demonstration events, which includes incidents categorized as "Protests," and "Violent demonstrations" as recorded by ACLED. For more information on event and sub-event types, see the ACLED Codebook

Radical group trends

This section provides key figures on far-right and white nationalist groups.²

United States: Strikes in Iran mobilize demonstrations at home and abroad 

On 28 February, Israel and the United States launched coordinated attacks on Iran. The strikes, which targeted Iran’s leadership and missile sites, marked the unfolding of a new conflict that The Economist has called the third Gulf war.³ 

This new escalation of conflict took place amid negotiations between the US and Iran over Iran’s enrichment of uranium, among other issues.⁴ President Donald Trump framed the strikes as defensive and necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear missiles, calling for the Iranian people to “take over” their government.⁵ At the same time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio contended that the US had decided to attack preemptively and in coordination with Israel in anticipation of retaliatory Iranian action against planned Israeli strikes. Trump later suggested he “might have forced their (Israel’s) hand.”⁶ Less than a week into the conflict, ACLED records over 500 US and Israeli strikes on Iran. In response, Iran launched over 321 of its own strikes on at least 12 different countries.

In the US, the conflict sparked a wave of demonstrations. Within three days of the initial strikes, over 100 demonstrations were held across the country. Roughly 75% of these demonstrations, many of which were organized by left-wing organizations like the Party for Socialism and Liberation, condemned US military intervention, describing it as unjustified, illegal, and destabilizing for the region. Since the beginning of the conflict, the vast majority of demonstrations supporting the intervention were organized by members of the Iranian diaspora in the US, who called for the overthrow of the Iranian regime. As the conflict continues, Trump will likely have to contend with challenges from within his own base, as many of his supporters are staunchly opposed to all foreign military intervention.⁷

Abroad, anti-US demonstrations took place at US embassies and consulates in Pakistan, Turkey, India, Greece, and Iraq, some of which turned violent.⁸ At least 10 people were killed in clashes with security forces after rioters breached the walls of the US embassy in Karachi on 1 March, including US Marines who fired into the crowd.⁹ In Baghdad, security forces fired tear gas into a crowd of pro-Iran demonstrators who attempted to force their way into the city's Green Zone, where the US embassy is located.¹⁰ These protests reflect a reactionary spike in anti-American sentiment, particularly in Iran’s neighboring countries, which could create further challenges for the US in the region.

United States: Students take the forefront of waning anti-ICE protests

In February, the Trump administration announced that it was scaling down Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota and pulling 700 agents from the state after federal immigration enforcement agents shot and killed two demonstrators. As hostilities between the administration and demonstrators cooled, pro-migration demonstrations in the US declined by nearly 60% compared to the previous month. 

Despite this overall decline in demonstration activity around migration, school walkouts and other student-led rallies increased by more than 20%, leading to the largest number of student-led demonstrations since pro-Palestine encampments swept university campuses in mid-2024. While the 2024 demonstrations were mainly organized by university students, the vast majority of pro-migration walkout rallies last month were organized by high schoolers.¹¹ 

Pro-migrant protests have become a regular fixture of Trump’s second term, particularly around the large and increasingly aggressive ICE operations that have been a cornerstone of his administration. These walkouts began as part of a protest effort some organizers referred to as a “general strike” on 30 January, when students led over 100 protests in solidarity with demonstrators in Minneapolis.¹² This single day of walkouts and rallies generated momentum that continued throughout February, when over 450 student-led protests supporting migrants took place across 45 states. As a result, student-led demonstrations accounted for over 60% of last month’s pro-migration demonstrations. In dozens of instances, students participating in walkouts faced disciplinary action, and hundreds of students across the country were suspended.¹³ In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton launched investigations into school districts in San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin over the walkouts.¹⁴