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Angry Americans say Trump ‘tearing country apart’; stunning visuals from 'Hands Off' protest
Thousands of protesters hit the streets from Midtown Manhattan to Anchorage, Alaska, including at multiple state capitals to protest against Trump-Musk duo
American people angry with the way president Donald Trump has been making radical changes to the federal government rallied across 1,200 locations in all 50 states on Saturday. The protests have been described as the biggest ever against the administration even as the Democrats try to regain lost momentum from last year's presidential election.
The peaceful protests have gained the symbolic name “Hands Off!” from the banners demanding Trump and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk to desist from making radical changes to government policy ranging from foreign affairs, defence, expenditure, climate change and social security programmes.
Musk, who heads the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been tasked by Trump to cut administrative “waste” and slash the size of federal agencies in, what the White House claims, an attempt to make them “more accountable” to American taxpayers.
The protesters also showed searing anger against what many view as increasing control of billionaires over government policy. People held signs with slogans like “Fight the oligarchy.”
The participants were from more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labour unions, LBGTQ advocates, armed forces veterans, elections activists, former Republican supporters and even Congress members of Democrats.
When asked about the rampant protests, the White House pointed fingers at the Democrats for allegedly encouraging “illegal aliens”.
“President Trump’s position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats’ stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors,” the White House said in a statement.
Protesters also demonstrated in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, a few miles away from Trump's golf course in Jupiter. The White House said the president golfed in Florida on Saturday and planned to do so again on Sunday.
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, slammed the administration's treatment of the LGBTQ community at the rally at the National Mall in Washington, DC.
“The attacks that we’re seeing, they’re not just political. They are personal, y’all. They’re trying to ban our books, they’re slashing HIV prevention funding, they’re criminalizing our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives,” Robinson said.
“We don’t want this America, y’all. We want the America we deserve, where dignity, safety and freedom belong not to some of us, but to all of us,” he added.
Mayor Michelle Wu said she does not want her children to live in a world in which threats and intimidation are government tactics and values like diversity and equality are under attack. “I refuse to accept that they could grow up in a world where immigrants like their grandma and grandpa are automatically presumed to be criminals,” Wu said.
Roger Broom, 66, a retiree from Delaware County, Ohio, said, “He’s tearing this country apart. It’s just an administration of grievances.”
(With AP inputs)
