Las Vegas protesters join nationwide ‘Hands Off!’ demonstrations

Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday, including Las Vegas, in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the Republican’s first weeks in office.

So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LGBTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists.

From the National Mall and Midtown Manhattan to Boston Common and multiple state capitols, thousands of protesters assailed Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration and human rights. In Seattle, in the shadow of the iconic Space Needle, protesters held signs with slogans like “Fight the oligarchy.”

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.

Musk, a Trump adviser who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, 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.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, criticized the administration’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ 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,” Robinson said. “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.”

In Boston, demonstrators brandished signs such as “Hands off our democracy.”

Roger Broom, 66, a retiree from Delaware County, Ohio, was one of hundreds who rallied at the Statehouse in Columbus. He said he used to be a Reagan Republican but has been turned off by Trump.

“It’s just an administration of grievances,” Broom said.

Hundreds demonstrated in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, a few miles from Trump’s golf course in Jupiter, where he spent the morning at the club’s Senior Club Championship. People lined both sides of PGA Drive, encouraging cars to honk and chanting slogans against Trump.

Asked about the protests, the White House said in a statement that “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.”