Hands Off protest April 5: Nationwide protests against Elon Musk and Trump to go ahead in several US cities as 'time to act is now'

The protest will be held in several US cities and the initiative has been dubbed “Hands Off,” spearheaded by the Indivisible movement. The Indivisible movement will lead the main demonstration to be held in Washington, DC. Participants will gather at Sylvan Theater in the capital, near the Washington Monument, at 1 p.m.

Indivisible is a progressive movement and organisation in the United States initiated in 2016 as a reaction to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. The nationwide protests spearheaded by the movement is in response to the cuts promoted by the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk.

The ‘Hands Off’ leadership say: “They’re taking everything they can get their hands on—our health care, our data, our jobs, our services—and daring the world to stop them. This is a crisis, and the time to act is now. This mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop to the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country.

“A core principle behind all Hands Off events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values”.

The movement announced the protest on its Facebook page and garnered a mixed reaction. Some users supported the protest, with one saying: “So good to see Americans starting to activate to save their democracy”. Another said: “Trump and Elon Musk must go!”.

However not all were supporters of the planned protest. One user wrote: “You can tell this is all set up and it’s very well organized. Unfortunately, the people that are protesting have no clue what they protesting. They’re just there for the money and to be part of what they think is the cool kids club.”