Follow live updates as the military parade in Washington, D.C., kicks off on Trump's birthday. 'No Kings' protests by opponents are planned across the country today.

The parade was the spectacle event Trump had long wanted. It also helped sparked the largest mass opposition to him since his inauguration 145 days earlier.

A massive military parade to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, requested by President Donald Trump to coincide with his 79th birthday, rolled through Washington D.C. on Saturday, as opponents of the president’s agenda rallied in hundreds of cities nationwide for “No Kings” protests.

The DC "No Kings" protest is marching to the White House on Saturday afternoon as President Trump hosts a celebration for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

Organisers said hundreds of demonstrations were held in a day of defiance to counter a huge military parade hosted by Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The grand military parade that President Donald Trump had been wanting for years barreled down Constitution Avenue on Saturday with tanks, troops and a 21-gun salute, playing out against a counterpoint of protests around the country by those who decried the U.S. leader as a dictator and would-be king.

“The most threatening sound to an oligarch is laughter.”

At least one demonstration, about 70 miles from Washington, D.C., in Northern Virginia, was met with violence when a man intentionally drove an SUV through a crowd of departing protesters, striking at least one person,