On Saturday, April 5, thousands of people flooded the streets of Boston to participate in the city’s “Hands Off” rally—one of over 1,400 nationwide—protesting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on the “National Day of Action.”
Protesters came to the rally for a myriad of reasons, some raising signs that criticized the administration’s recent cuts to scientific research, some targeting tariffs and others advocating for immigrants’ rights amidst recent arrests. Protesters marched from the Parkman Bandstand to City Hall Plaza, where speakers including Boston mayor Michelle Wu and Senator Ed Markey took the stage.
While marching, protesters sang “This Land is Your Land,” called for the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts PhD student who was arrested by ICE agents in Somerville for an op-ed she co-authored and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.”
Protester Richard Drolet held a large banner that read “STOP ARMING ISRAEL.” While Drolet attended the protest to share his disappointment of U.S. aid to Israel, he also criticized Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his defense of Öztürk’s arrest, and was worried about the economy and recent tariffs, urging people to take action.
“People have to get off their duffs and fight back,” Drolet said. “They need to stand up right now and say, ‘No, we’ve had enough. Hands off,’ as the rally’s called. ‘Hands off.’’”
Marjorie Siegel, co-leader of Activist Evenings, a Brookline-based Indivisible Project group, handed out business cards to fellow protesters and said she was mainly concerned about the state of democracy.
“I have been protesting since I was five years old, and I have never felt that it was more urgent to stand up for the country and for morality and justice than ever,” Siegel said. “I’m frightened for our country. I think it’s a matter of less than a year [for] us not [to have] any rights at all. And I am hoping this is a dress rehearsal for many future protests because I believe that people have more power—that they cannot govern us without our consent.”
Peter Berman, another protester, was especially frustrated at the recent arrests of legal U.S. residents and the deportations of men to El Salvador’s Center for Terrorism Confinement. He said he saw the importance of the march.
“I like to see crowds like this coming out, people supporting what they believe in,” Berman said. “This administration, I don’t believe they’re ever going to change their act, but they need to get out. We need to oust them.”
In her speech, mayor Michelle Wu, who recently defended Boston’s immigration policies before Congress, echoed the sentiments of the crowd.
“Hands off Boston! We know who we are. We need each other and the country needs Boston right now,” Wu said. “Boston has never and will never back down to bullies. This is our city and you will not break us!”
