"Hands Off Democracy": Over 500,000 Demonstrate Protest Against Trump (X image @BienPerez)
Washington DC, US: US population is angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country. Americans rallied and marched across the country on Saturday, which is taken as the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum. US citizens took to streets with “Hands-off” demonstration held in more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. Reportedly, more than 500,000 people were involved in the demonstration.
The demonstrators voiced frustration over Trump administration’s moves like firing thousands of federal workers, closing social security administration field offices, shuttering entire agencies, deporting immigrants, scaling back protections for transgender people and cutting down funding for health programs.
The Trump administration’s reforms, including Elon Musk led Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) activity reportedly resulted in the elimination of more than 200,000 federal positions and significant reductions in benefits, particularly within the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration.
Protest sites included the National Mall in Washington, DC, and other locations in all 50 states of America. Tens of thousands demonstrated at the National Mall. Protestors displayed a vast array of placards, including Ukrainian flags, voicing opposition to the policies of the administration, which has sought cordial relations with Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.
One of the organization behind the protest, MoveOn, dubbed “Hands Off” along with dozens of labor, environmental and other progressive groups, said that more than 1,000 protests took place across the US, including at state capitols.
Another organisation behind the protest, the Indivisible’s executive director Leah Greenberg told The Guardian that, “We want to send a signal to all people and institutions that have been showing anticipatory obedience to Trump and showing they are willing to bend the knee that there is, in fact, a mass public movement that’s willing to rise up and stop this…If our political leaders stand up, we will have their backs. We want them to stand up and protect the norms of democracy and want them to see that there are people out there who are willing to do that. The goal of this is building a message”.
Aiming tech giant Musk, who has been acting as the business adviser of Trump, and the government cuts he has overseen, protesters chanted: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Trump and Musk have got to go”. Some jeered against motorists in Tesla Cybertrucks manufactured by Musk’s electric vehicle maker. The placards read, “Prosecute and jail the Turd Reich”, and “I did not elect Elon Musk”. Others emphasized the protesters’ anxieties about the future of democracy in the US. “Hands off democracy,” declared one placard. “Stop being [Vladimir] Putin’s puppet”, said others referring to Trump-Putin relation lately.
