Per a public statement, demands from Hand’s Off include “an end to the billionaire takeover and rampant corruption of the Trump administration; an end to slashing federal funds for Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs working people rely on; and an end to the attacks on immigrants, trans people, and other communities.” The protests also focused on Musk’s “illegal power grab,” with the group stating that “Trump, Musk, and congressional Republicans are gutting services, raising prices, and racing towards slashing Medicaid, social security, and more.”
In New York, thousands marched from Bryant Park to Madison Square Park. In Washington, DC, tens of thousands of protesters gathered at the National Mall, and large crowds in Hollywood, Florida—close to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort—turned out for the demonstration. One protest took place at a Tesla dealership in Fort Lauderdale. There were also international solidarity protests taking place in Paris and London, among other European cities.
At the group’s largest protest, in DC, Democratic representatives took turns to speak to the crowd, including Maryland’s Jamie Raskin, who described the president as having “the politics of Mussolini and the economics of Herbert Hoover.” Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar and Maxwell Frost of Florida also spoke, asking people to take part in the action, donate to mutual-aid funds, put pressure on their elected reps, and stay focused on the demands.
Across the demonstrations, chants of “hey ho, Trump’s gotta go,” and “power to the people” circulated. Placards read “Hands Off Education,” “Fuck Musk,” and “Resist, Resist.”
