LNP – Thousands protest against Trump and Musk in ’Hands Off!’ rallies across US and Europe

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken part in an anti-Trump protest in a score of locations across the US in what organisers expect to be the largest single day of protest against President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk. 

So-called “Hands Off!” demonstrations were organised for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states in the United States by more than 150 civil rights organisations, labour unions, LBGTQIA+ advocates, veterans and elections activists.

From the National Mall in Washington DC — where organisers told Reuters more than 20,000 were expected to attend — to Boston Common in Massachusetts, protesters assailed Mr Trump’s and Mr Musk’s actions on downsizing, the economy, immigration, recent tariffs and human rights. 

Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.

Mr Musk has played a key role in the downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. 

He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist from Princeton, New Jersey, was among those who gathered beneath the Washington Monument.

She said she drove down to attend the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.

“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she said. 

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, criticised the administration’s treatment of the LBGTQIA+ community at the rally at the National Mall, where Democratic members of Congress also took the stage.

“The attacks that we’re seeing, they’re not just political. They are personal, y’all,” Ms Robinson said. 

“They’re trying to ban our books, they’re slashing HIV prevention funding, they’re criminalising our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives.”

The president planned to go golfing again on Sunday, according to the White House.

Asked about the protests, the White House said in a statement that Mr 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,” they added. 

Activists have staged nationwide demonstrations against Mr Trump and Musk multiple times since he returned to office. 

But before Saturday the opposition movement had yet to produce a mass mobilisation like the Women’s March in 2017, which brought thousands of women to Washington after Mr Trump’s first inauguration, or the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted in multiple cities after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis in 2020.

Democrats living abroad made their voices heard

Outside the United States, Americans living abroad made sure their voice was heard as further Hands Off! protests were planned in Mexico, Canada and in a string of locations across Europe including Paris, London, Frankfurt and Lisbon. 

In the German city of Frankfurt, the Hands Off! demonstration was organised by Democrats Abroad, the official organisation of the Democratic Party for US citizens living overseas.

In Berlin, protesting in front of a Tesla showroom, demonstrators held placards calling on fellow Americans living in Germany to protest for “an end to the chaos” at home.

In the French capital of Paris, about 200 people, mostly American, gathered on the Place de la République to protest against Mr Trump. 

Protests against Mr Trump and Mr Musk were also held in other European cities, including London and Lisbon.

In the British capital, a few hundred people gathered in Trafalgar Square, holding signs saying “Proud American Ashamed” and “WTAF America?” 

The crowd chanted “Hands off Canada”, “Hands off Greenland” and “Hands off Ukraine” while listening to speeches criticising MrTrump.