Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington and across the United States on Saturday (Apr 5), part of about 1,200 demonstrations that were expected to form the largest single day of protest against President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk since they launched a rapid-fire effort to overhaul government and expand presidential authority.
People streamed onto the expanse of grass surrounding the Washington Monument under gloomy skies and light rain. Organizers told Reuters that more than 20,000 people were expected to attend a rally at the National Mall.
About 150 activist groups had signed up to participate, according to the event’s website. Protests were planned in all 50 states, plus Canada and Mexico.
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist from Princeton, New Jersey, was among those who gathered by the stage beneath the Washington Monument.
She said she drove down to attend the rally to protest 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.”
The crowd around the memorial continued to build throughout the day. Some carried Ukrainian flags, and others wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs, while Democrats from the US House of Representatives blasted Trump’s policies on stage.
Wayne Hoffman, 73, a retired money manager from West Cape May, New Jersey, said he was concerned about Trump’s economic policies, including his widespread use of tariffs.
“It’s going to cost the farmers in the red states. It’s going to cost people their jobs – certainly their 401Ks. People have lost tens of thousands of dollars,” Hoffman said.
Kyle, a 20-year-old intern from Ohio, was a lone Trump supporter, sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat and walking the fringe of the Washington, DC, rally while engaging protesters in debate.
“Most people aren’t too hostile. A few people cuss,” said Kyle, who declined to give his last name.
Trump, who shook financial markets and upset nations around the world with a raft of trade tariffs this week, spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf at his club in Jupiter before returning to his Mar-a-Lago compound in the afternoon.
Some six kilometres from Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, more than 400 demonstrators gathered on a sunny day in protest. Drivers honked their horns in support of the demonstrators as they passed by.
“Markets tank, Trump golfs,” read one sign.
At another protest in Stamford, Connecticut, Sue-ann Friedman, 84, brought a bright pink, handmade sign objecting to the administration’s moves to cut funding for medical research.
“I thought my marching days were over, and then we get somebody like Musk and Trump,” said Friedman.
Paul Kretschmann, a 74-year-old retired attorney in Stamford, said it was the first time he had ever attended a protest.
“My concern is that Social Security is going to be gutted, that we’re going to lose our benefits, and that there’s going to be nobody around to administer it in the first place,” he said. “I’m afraid that this is all part of a larger plan to dismantle the government and for Trump to maintain power.”
