By LOS ANGELES, CA – Long Beach, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. all have one thing in common: thousands of people in those areas protested against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on April 6 with one phrase, “Hands Off!”
While there were many advocates of issues regarding unions, LGBTQ+ issues, and Palestine among other political topics, protestors united to stand up against Trump and Musk’s’ policies.
The Downtown Los Angeles protest began at Pershing Square at 4:30 p.m. all the way to the Los Angeles City Hall at around 5:30 p.m.
A huge Trump inflatable filled up the Downtown Los Angeles area among signs saying, “Remove Dictators to save America,” “Hands off of our liberty” and “Trump and the GOP are enemies of Democracy,” among other signs.
Members of labor unions, LGBTQ+ advocates and many more organizations showed up to the Downtown Los Angeles protest.
Mark Friedman, a member with the Los Angeles “Hands Off” Cuba committee, said the protests were encouraging.
“People are coming together and you saw from the signs, all different issues but if you put them all together, it’s the defense of the working class, defense of immigrants, defense of the Constitution, defense of Social Security,” Friedman said. “Everything that the Trump administration is attempting to take away from working people.”
One thing is for certain, there was a feeling of frustration and unity during the Los Angeles protests.
“I’m pissed off,” Scott Holme, Los Angeles resident and attendee, said. “I feel like I’m not the only one, I’m not going crazy, that the things that he’s [Trump] is doing are outrageous and unconstitutional.”
Holme said Trump is the walking embodiment of the seven deadly sins and what he’s doing is scary and disgusting.
With regards to Elon Musk, Holme mentions how he was giving out one million dollar checks to influence the Supreme Court.
“We have the richest man in the world who is giving out million dollar checks to people and they have the nerve to say Democrats were buying votes, give me a break,” Holme said.
After thousands of protestors walked the Downtown Los Angeles streets, they stopped at the Los Angeles City Hall as a huge crowd of people filled the barriers behind the city hall with flags and banners.
The protest slowly went to a close at around 7 p.m. as protestors walked outside of the Los Angeles City Hall with their families or friends close by and signs in hand.
Friedman said one of the biggest challenges is defending free speech on college campuses, giving the example of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khali.
“Your campus, your newspaper have a very important role to play in defending free speech and not allowing your administration to succumb to the pressures of Trump,” Friedman said.
