By Christian Magdaleno, April 15, 2025
From New York to Los Angeles, the nation erupted with millions participating in the “Hands Off!” protests April 5, with many expressing frustrations amid President Donald Trump’s administration and billionaire Elon Musk’s role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
The “Hands Off!” demonstrations were organized across more than 1,200 locations across all 50 U.S. states. An estimated 600,000 people registered for the protests online, according to Indivisible.
“Hands Off!” was a nonviolent “national day of protest” with the intention of “taking to the streets nationwide to fight back,” as described through the organization’s website.
“Across the country and around the world, people came together to say, ‘We will not be silent while our rights, our futures and our democracy are under attack,’” said Rahna Epting, the executive director of MoveOn, in a statement about the protests.
Thousands gathered in Downtown Los Angeles at Pershing Square at 4:30 p.m. before marching almost a mile to LA City Hall an hour later, where protesters gathered at the steps to listen to speakers for the remainder of the four-hour-long public demonstration.
Anthony Caballero, a political science student at Cal Poly Pomona, joined the march to LA City Hall with his father and expressed the importance of making his voice heard.
“I think the public is going to have to do continuous protests on the same scale as the Civil Rights Movement, and in addition to that, we need to support our press because the First Amendment is under attack,” Caballero said. “This is not the time to be silent anymore, because if we are, things are going to get extremely worse, and very quickly.”
Caballero said it was powerful to see people of all ages come together to show support.
“I don’t strike him as the protesting type,” Caballero said about his father. “I think he knew he could not recognize or approve of the Trump administration’s recent decisions. And I was very happy that he was there.”
Feature images courtesy of Christian Magdaleno
