Town of Amherst Participates in Nationwide “Hands Off!” Protest

On Saturday, hundreds of residents from Amherst and nearby towns gathered on the Amherst Common to protest against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Amid the rain, residents lined up along South Pleasant Street holding signs criticizing the Trump administration, with messages including “Deport Elon,” “Impeach Trump,” and “Resist Fascism.”

The protest was part of a nationwide day of action titled the “Hands Off!” movement, which was led by activist organizations such as Indivisible Mass Coalition, Third Act, and MoveOn. The movement resulted in over 1400 events in all 50 states on the same day, including a protest at the Washington Monument that led to the White House’s postponement of the annual spring garden tours.

Amherst residents Pamela Burris and Jeff Johnson said that their primary reason for joining the protest was “just because we can’t let this continue. We’re going to lose any freedoms we’ve won over the past 2- or 300 years.”

“Project 2025, [the] Heritage Foundation, all they have done is [widened] the income gap between the wealthiest people and the world,” Burris said. “There’s no reason that we should be destroying what we’ve been able to offer to people and [going] backward.”

A few participants said that they had originally wanted to go to the Hands Off! protest in Boston where Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey (D) was invited as a speaker, but decided to remain in Amherst due to the rain. Despite the last-minute change in plans, Northampton residents Luke Jaeger and Shoshana Marchand remained passionate about coming to the streets of Amherst to “refuse and resist.”

“I’m here because I want to be with people who share my views, and that’s when we can all feel like we’re not alone,” Jaeger said. “My sign says, ‘Attention Fascists: World War Two is Over. You Lost.’ I know these guys don’t keep up with the news very well, so just in case, they need a reminder about what’s been happening.”

Marchand added that she joined the protest because “we have to be brave, and we have to be out in the street.” She added that she hopes this is the first of many more protests, as she is “ready to make some noise.”

Catherine Hilton, a member of the Town of Shutesbury’s Board of Health, came to Amherst because she wanted to “defend the public health system which is currently under attack,” and is also excited for more similar events in the future.

“I am passionately opposed to everything that the Trump administration is doing,” Hilton said. “I’ve been going on the Hands Off! website and looking for events, and I was delighted to see that more and more events kept coming.”

Shortly after our interview, Hilton joined other protesters to circle the Amherst Commons while chanting “What do we want? Hands off now!” Many parents brought their children, who also held signs. Cars driving by honked in support as more town residents joined the march.

Ethan Markham, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Western Mass, said he waved a Palestinian flag at the protest because he sees “fighting to end genocide as step number one in combating fascism.” Aside from joining Hands Off! in its day of action, JVP also hosts weekly protests in Northampton to demand an arms embargo and a permanent ceasefire.

“The fights for Palestinian rights [and those] against racism, Islamophobia, the deportation of immigrants and international students who are speaking their voices, the government taking over federal agencies and crushing unions … they’re all connected,” Markham said.

Miriam DeFant, a coordinator for Indivisible West Quabbin — a grassroots organization that is part of Indivisible National and helped organize 25 demonstrations on the day of the protest — said the message she wanted to send out to the broader community is that the current administration does not have popular support.

“The American people will stand up to protect the Constitution and democracy and the rule of law, and that this is the moment where people are going to start making their voices really heard,” DeFant said.