Anti-Trump protesters gathered at hundreds of locations nationwide

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WASHINGTON, D.C. ‒ Tens of thousands of people are gathering Saturday at rallies across the country to voice concerns over President Donald Trump's actions since taking office.

The "Hands Off" protests are expected to be the largest and most numerous protests since Trump's second term began. Nationwide more than 500,000 people have RSVP'd to attend one of 1,000 rallies marches or protests organized by grassroots groups. The biggest protest was expected to be in D.C..

By 1 p.m. Eastern, protesters stretched as far as the eye could see along the National Mall and the crowd had been flowing toward the base of the Washington monument for hours. Metro Police were forced to shut down 14th street, a major road across the National Mall, because so many pedestrians were crossing.

People were waving American flags and Ukrainian flags. They carried signs protesting cuts to the Education Department and Social Security, supporting trans rights and urging people to vote and defend the Constitution. Some played drums and shouted from bull horns. Toddlers rode tricycles or their parents' shoulders. Dogs wore shirts declaring themselves "dogs against DOGE."

The White House had earlier dismissed the protests, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt telling Paste BN this week that "protests, lawsuits, and lawfare" will not sway Trump "from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable." Trump was not in D.C. Saturday, though protests were expected near his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

More: ‘Hands Off!’ protests happening across USA on Saturday: What to know

Luella Jaslowski, 59, of Twin Lakes, Wisc. said she and her sister jumped to buy plane tickets to Washington when they learned about the Hands Off protest two weeks ago. She said it was important to be there in person, even if Trump is not in Washington.

"I want to be here. I know he's not here, but I want to be here because this is where democracy starts," she told Paste BN.

She said she hopes people see the size of the opposition to Trump and opposition to Elon Musk, who has led the Department of Government Efficiency, which has cut tends of thousands of federal jobs.

But Lee Eiden, 72, works at the National Institutes of Health and said it was time to stand up and say something.

"The reductions in force have been so indiscriminate and clumsily laid out that we're actually endangering health and safety and the protection of federal property," he said.

Renée Beaver, 45, of Washington, DC had friends come down from Philadelphia for the protest.

"I don't know how much an actual protest can change Donald Trump's mind about anything, but getting out with people and engaging in solidarity activities, I think, is good for everyone's spirit, and also shows that there is an opposition, that there are people that don't like what's going on," she said.

Across the country ‒ and the world

More than 1,200 other protests were planned across the country. Organizers said they wanted to have protests that are not only accessible for people wherever they are in the country, but also highly visible to show that opposition exists in every part of the country.

In Erie, Pennsylania, for instance, a crowd estimated by organizers to number more than 700 gathered in the city's Perry Square. About 200 stood on the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart, Florida, roughly an hour's drive north of Mar-a-Lago. In Sedona, Arizona, well over 500 protesters marched through downtown with chants of “Deport Musk.” In Providence, Rhode Island, a crowd estimated at 6,000 met at Hope High School at noon and then marched down Thayer Street and Angell Street to Burnside Park, joined by brass bands.

In York, Pennsylvania, well over 700 people stood on the four quadrants of the square named in honor of the Continental Congress’ nine-month stay in York during the Revolutionary War. The peaceful protesters waved signs targeting Trump and Musk.

And some even wore costumes. Caro Stowell of Thomasville was dressed up like a clown.

“I came out because we have elected a clown, and now we have a circus,” she said as cars drove past beeping their horns in support of the rally.

Stowell said she believes the administration is destroying education and health care. “You can see all the people here who are not happy with what’s happening to our Constitution,” she said motioning toward the crowd.

Thousands of protesters also gathered Saturday in Berlin, Paris and London to rally against Trump and Musk.

In February alone, more than 2,085 protests took place nationwide, according to the Crowd Counting Consortium, a joint project of Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Connecticut.

That's an increase from 937 protests in February 2017, the first full month of the first Trump administration. But many of the protests in the early months of Trump's first term were much larger than the nation has seen so far in 2025, and there has been less frequent media coverage of protests this year.

MoveOn Executive Director Rahna Epting said the goal was to concentrate all of those protests into one day to show how many Americans oppose cuts to critical services and benefits they've earned like Medicare.

"Hands Off is like hands off on all these things, not just our services and benefits, but our rights and our freedoms, all of which are being threatened right now, and we're seeing it every single day,” she said. 

All of Saturday's protests were reported to be peaceful with almost no counter-protesters and only a small number of arrests.

In downtown Appleton, Wisconsin, a man was arrested just moments after the protest began.

According to bystanders, the man pulled a Tesla driver, Matt Simon, out of his car and punched him in the face while protesters nearby chanted “Peaceful! Peaceful!” The Tesla driver’s wife, Edie Simon, who was there to protest, said her husband bought the Tesla three years ago and was driving it for Uber because he was out of work.

“We’re anti-Trump, anti-Musk in every way,” she said.

The issues: Standing up for democracy

CC Kay of Silver Spring, MD said she came to the Washington monument protest because "either I do this or I stay in bed depressed."

The issue she was there to raise was voting rights.

"Protesting is the way I can scream. And I just feel that voting underscores everything. Everything. Without the vote, we get nothing. We have to make voting the number one priority," she said.

Ed Jeffries, 74, of Poland, Ohio said he feels like Trump is robbing America of its democracy.

"We're losing it in this country, and we need to start fighting back. He has too many people that are just siding with him," Jeffries said. "Somebody has to stand up, and that's what we're here for."

Ann Berger, 78, of Stuart, Florida, who lives half the year in Wisconsin, said she was protesting at the Roosevelt Bridge over the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election in which a candidate backed by Musk lost.

“Elon Musk came in and put $28 million in, and offered millions of dollars for votes, and I think that’s wrong,” Berger said. “We are not for sale. That’s not the way our government should run.”

She felt a "duty" to attend Saturday’s protest in Stuart.

“We all should be speaking out; we all should be speaking our piece,” she said. “We should be respectful and listen to each other, but we need to speak the truth. There’s too much fear going on.”

Joan Kelly, 60, of Port St. Lucie, who also attended the Florida protest, felt similarly.

“Today I am standing up for myself, my daughters, my grandchildren, all of our rights,” Kelly said as she grabbed a chair from her car. “I just think what's going on in America today is so sad and it's confusing. It's just scary and confusing, to be honest.”

Her friend, Amy Morgan, 61, also of Port St. Lucie, nodded her head as Kelly spoke.

“It’s just terrifying. I'm just scared and upset and angry and I just feel like I’ve got to do something,” Morgan said. “Sitting back and hoping isn't working.”

Protesting federal cutbacks

Former federal employee Lisa Gibbon used to work in HR and said Trump violated proper procedures for laying off federal employees.

"I know the right way to do these things and the wrong way, and this was the wrong way," she said.

She traveled into the D.C. from Frederick County, Maryland,, for the protest.

"I'm here to do my little part, because I don't have a lot of power, but I want to join those who do to save our country from those who are trying to destroy it," she said.

Sam Lau of Dover sat in a wheelchair in York, Pennsylvania, wearing a mask and holding a sign that said “Hands off Medicaid.” She said she feels the administration is targeting the federal program designed to cover medical costs for people with limited income and resources.

“I’m on Medicaid. This is not me being dramatic here. I will die without it,” she said, noting that she needs “thousands of dollars of medications and treatments each month that keep me alive. Without Medicaid, it’s just going to be a quick death.”

Mark Askew, 67, said the workforce cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs and Trump's firing of Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are what motivated him to attend Saturday's event in his hometown of Cincinnati. It marked his first time at a protest.

Askew, a Navy veteran, described Trump's removal of Gen. Brown as "basically racist."

"I don't like the fact that he feels that all veterans are suckers," Askew continued. "He's cutting VA benefits and reducing government workers who are veterans … I just think that somebody needs to do something, that's why I'm here."

He added that he loved experiencing his first protest.

"The rain is probably going to have me sneezing tomorrow, but I enjoy it," Askew said before adjusting the grip on his sign, which read "Trump hates veterans because they are brave and he is a coward."

It's the economy

In Boca Raton, Matthew Kass, a former Republican town council member from Chester, N.J., carried a sign reading “TARIFFS KILL JOBS!” on one side, and the other, “END THE TRADE WAR! NO MORE DOGE! FIRE MUSK! DUMP TRUMP!”

Musk is canceling federal contracts with companies, with Trump’s approval, and giving his own company that money. “It’s corruption before our very eyes,” said the retired bonds trader.

What keeps him optimistic, Kass, 67, of Boynton Beach said, is seeing the protesting crowds and Republicans losing at the ballot box in smaller elections since November. 

Karen Shernit 57, and her sister Susan, 64, attended the rally in Detroit in part to mark the fifth anniversary of their mother's death from COVID-19.

Karen Shernit said she protested to fight her own feelings of helplessness, in addition to her many complaints about Trump,

"You could name anything, from the economy, tariffs, health insurance, Elon Musk, who is not elected to any office, just taking jobs away from people and just dismantling our entire federal government leaves me terrified," she said.

Concerned about cruelty

Outside the Indiana capitol building in Indianapolis, Gwyn Skrobul, 62, worried that cuts to Social Security and Medicare would harm her 95-year-old mother.

The retired history teacher said she's concerned the past could be repeating itself.

"The whole targeting minorities and polarizing the community – it's looking very Nazi-esque to me, which is frightening. I don't want to leave this kind of a world to my children, grandchildren," Skrobul said.

Her husband, Guy Skrobul, 62, spent his career as a special education teacher.

"The minute that he mocked a reporter with a physical handicap – that was it. The hateful rhetoric. The injustice. Relishing in cruelty toward other people is wrong."

Carla Greenfield, 67, who joined a protest in Rochester, New York said she felt the need to express her frustration Saturday.“I feel like we need to take control and let them know how we're feeling,” said Greenfield, who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last fall's election because she was concerned about Trump's apparent lack of empathy. “I have friends that are veterans that are in VA hospitals and they're lacking services. I've had family members with cancer, that is losing the research that's necessary for them," she said. "I was in education for my whole career and it kills me to see them potentially taking services away from children and affecting civil rights, especially children special needs.”

Melissa Holsman contributed to this report from Stuart, Florida, Chris Persaud from Boca Raton, Florida, Scott Fisher from York, Pennsylvania, Antonia Noori Farzan from Providence, Rhode Island, Ryan Murphy from Indianapolis, Kerria Weaver from Rochester, New York, Grace Tucker from Cincinnati, Rebecca Loroff from Appleton, Wisconsin, John Wisely in Detroit, and Laura Gersony and Ronald J. Hansen from Arizona.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)