Tens of Thousands of Protesters Flood NYC Streets to Tell Trump, Musk, DOGE ‘Hands Off’

Brooklyn Indivisible at Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, [email protected]news-photos-features.com

It took almost three hours for all the protesters to get to the starting line on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street for the march to Madison Park at 25th Street in midtown Manhattan – I’m guessing some 50,000. There were no speeches, only chants and periodic roars that rang through the cavern of skyscrapers, releasing pent up anger, frustration, hostility to an administration – headlined by Trump, his billionaire hatchet man Elon Musk and the DOGE bros – that has been so contemptuous of human rights, civil rights, voting rights, workers rights, allies and alliances, that has upended people’s lives and inspired such fear, anxiety, insecurity. Hands Off! They chanted. Hands Off….! (fill in the blank) their hand-written signs declared.

It was an anguish that could only be extinguished by being in community with thousands of others.

New York says Hands Off! © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The New York City march was one of some 1,300 taking place in all 50 states  and even abroad, organized by a coalition of some 150 organizations, headed by Indivisible, Moveon, Public Citizen, women’s groups, veterans groups and others.

It was the biggest day of protest since the 2017 Womens March that greeted Trump’s first term. But after a period of frustration that the biggest single day of protest did not protect women’s reproductive freedom, with the capitulation of Republicans in the Senate, in the House, in the states and localities, with the capitulation of media moguls, universities, law firms, and with Democrats banished from having any impact on governance, as Trump unleashed his assault on constitutional rights, it was decided that the people have to take power, and take it back where they live.

Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

And that was before Trump, with a stroke of a Sharpie, undermined the economic order that has underpinned peace and prosperity for 75 years, and unleashed the worry of a global recession, erasing $4 TRILLION in wealth in two days, the sharpest two-day decline since he was last occupying the office. He is the only individual in history to have caused that kind of damage. On purpose.

Remove. Reverse. Reclaim. New York says Hands Off! © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

There is no constituency – even the MAGAs who fell for Trump’s BS (the Big Lie of Election 2024: “I never saw Project 2025”) – that has not been harmed by Trump and his enforcer, Elon Musk and the DOGE bros: women, seniors, children, students, the disabled, scientists, doctors, teachers, federal workers (he ended rights for 1 million civil servants), veterans (Trump, who had no idea that four American soldiers had been “lost” in Lithuania, went to his golf club rather show respect and receive their bodies), academics, union workers, farmers, immigrants, refugees, migrants WITH LEGAL STATUS (who have I left out?).

Trump has trampled on free speech, free press, free assembly, the right to a trial by jury, the right to due process (except for abusing that privilege for himself, while conveniently tearing up the other part of the 14th amendment: no insurrectionist can hold federal office), equal protection, the right to vote and have that vote counted. He has even teased that he would run for a 3rd term (“I’m not joking.”).

I’ll let the people and their posters speak for themselves:

Cruelty is the point! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Trump and Musk are Losers. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Stop federal cuts. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off our future. Resist. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
The only immigrant stealing American jobs is a Nazi. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
No one voted for this. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Pro Life. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off libraries. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off public schools. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Due Process. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Why are we abandoning our friends and allies? Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Have you no shame? Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Stop the cuts. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
WTF. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
We the People. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off Social Security. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Who’s pulling the strings? Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
You lazy freeloader. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Save USAID! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off our Democracy! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
The devils are here. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Democracy is not for sale! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Not my presidents. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Not why I became a citizen. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off our families! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off our democracy! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Workers unite for reproductive rights. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Congress do your job! Restore Democracy !! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Main Trumpf. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Waste. Fraud. Abuse. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
No tariffs. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Impeach now! Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Immigrant mother. Pissed voter. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Due process for everyone. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Elect a rapist. Expect to be fucked. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
We Can Do It! Dump Trump. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Proud Higher Ed Diversicrat. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
Hands off The Press. Hands Off! NYC protest march © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

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