TRANSCRIPT:
It was the largest coordinated protest against Donald Trump since his return to the White House.
More than 20,000 people have converged on Washington’s National Mall - but there have been simultaneous rallies in all 50 states, and even overseas, in Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
The movement, branded “Hands Off!”, has brought together over 150 advocacy groups including civil rights organisations, labour unions, veterans, scientists, and LGBTIQ+ activists.
Congressman Jamie Raskin from Maryland has told the crowd in Washington they're angry about sweeping job cuts in the federal workforce, attacks on science and minority rights, and what many have called a presidential “power grab", all backed by billionaire Elon Musk, now head of the controversial Department of Government Efficiency.
"Here in America, Mr. Musk, justice is not for sale. And we don't raffle off state Supreme Court judgeships for million-dollar prizes. Stop trying to buy our votes. Stop ripping off our government. And stop stealing our data."
Also taking the stage was Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
She has linked the policy changes to real-world harm, especially for marginalised groups.
“This moment that we're in y'all, it demands more than outrage. It demands action. Because the attacks that we’re seeing, they’re not just political. They are personal, y’all. They’re trying to ban our books, they’re slashing HIV prevention funding, they’re criminalising our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives. This is Donald Trump’s America and I don’t want it y’all. We don’t want this America, y’all. We want the America we deserve, where dignity, safety and freedom belong not to some of us, but to all of us y'all.”
For many, the issue is personal.
Anu Joshi is the national campaign director for immigration at the American Civil Liberties Union.
She has told protesters at the Washington Monument she finds the arrests of international students and scholars to be alarming.
"ICE [[US Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] has illegally snatched people from their homes and neighbourhoods, threatened their legal status and sent them across the country with no notice to their loved ones or their lawyers. All of this in direct retaliation for constitutionally protected speech. The government cannot punish us because they don't like what we say."
Chitra Kumar from the Union of Concerned Scientists has pointed to a deeper crisis: what Chitra has called the erosion of truth itself.
"One of my major concerns is how much disinformation that they are perpetuating out in the public, that basic science and basic facts that our democracy depends on is being torn down. And when that happens, people get hurt. We've already seen that, whether it's measles outbreaks that should not be happening in this country or climate change. I'm really concerned about it. We're going the wrong direction."
Protesters have also rallied in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Berlin, and Lisbon.
Sophie Vincent is a 31-year-old Frenchwoman who lived in America, among those protesting in Paris.
"Every single day it seems like he starts doing things on a whim. You don't really know what he's going to do. It doesn't seem like he knows what he's going to do. I think he also lets himself be influenced by other dangerous people, people with money instead of proper thinking for people. He's not thinking about people, he's thinking about his billionaire buddies, and yeah, so there's no limit to the issues that he's causing."
There has been no response from the White House to date about these protests, but the President has previously maintained his tariff regime will bring business back to the United States.
The Republican controlled Senate has also voted in favour of a budget resolution that will underpin Trump's domestic agenda, with the measures now heading to the House of Representatives.
