BERKELEY, Calif.— Thousands turned out Saturday in front of the North Berkeley Bart station in protest over what they decry as the Trump administration’s “hostile takeover” of their rights and freedoms.
“Our country and the world are at stake,” said Julia Bavar from her wheelchair with a sign leaning against it that said, “Death By a Thousand Cuts.”
Bavar was among the estimated 2,200 men, women, and children on hand for the April 5 protest, part of a series of similar protests across the country. “If we don’t speak up now, there may not be a later,” she said.
“I, as a disabled person may not survive this administration because of their drastic cuts and their disregard for most human life,” said her friend, Peni Hall, 76, who was also in a wheelchair beside Bavar.
The “Hands Off” protests marked the biggest day of demonstrations yet against the policies of Pres. Donald Trump and his biggest campaign donor and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
Signs denounced Trump’s actions threatening health care, Social Security and education, and accused the president of making it harder for the average American to live, while benefiting his richest friends.
The demonstrations were organized in more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations such as the Invisibles, LGBTQ+ advocates, labor unions and election activists. The Berkeley protests stretched for blocks along Sacramento Street.
Through chants and raised fists, protestors expressed anger over Trump’s steps to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in the workplace and other institutions, steps experts warn will threaten a range of sectors, healthcare among them. Advocates of DEI programs say they have provided a framework for the fostering of a more just and equitable society.
Protestors also denounced Trump’s mass deportation of immigrants, including those in the country as legal permanent residents, and of students stripped of their visas and detained by ICE because of their First Amendment activities.
Some voiced anger over the Trump administration’s scaled back protections to transgender people. In his first days in office, Trump ordered the removal of any mention of transgender people on government websites and passports.
Musk, a Trump adviser who runs Tesla, Space X and the social media platform X, has played a significant role in the downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
With Trump cheering him on, the chainsaw wielding tech entrepreneur has made recommendations to those in charge of federal agencies as to who should be laid off and who should remain. Thousands of federal employees have been shown the door in the last several weeks.
Trump insists he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars, though reporting by the New York Times has found numerous accounting errors in DOGE’s public ledger.
“All of my outrage can’t fit on this sign,” said one protestor and a Hands-Off organizer, pointing to her emoji-filled sign of angry faces. “They are tearing down the pillars of our democracy.”
Some of the signs were funny. One said, “I’ve seen smarter cabinets at Ikea.” Another said, “Fight Truth Decay.”
A number of Pro-Palestinian supporters who began their protest rally from the El Cerrito Plaza Bart station parking lot joined the Berkeley protestors. Some of them carried the Palestinian flag. Some wore the black-and-white Palestinian checkered scarf. “Today, we are in solidarity with the various struggles,” said El Cerrito resident Leslie Adams. She said she opposed the idea of her tax dollars being used to fund the war on the Palestinian people.
Viji Sundaram is a San Francisco Bay Area free-lance reporter. She covers domestic violence and family court issues for the San Francisco Public Press.
