Photos by Megan Seling
Thousands of people filled Seattle Center today as part of the Hands Off national day of protest. AP is reporting that more than 1,200 rallies took place across all 50 states.
Every nook and cranny of the Seattle Center was packed with people—from the plaza in front of the Vera Project to the walkways leading to the Armory. Crowds gathered and waved signs from atop the Fischer Pavilion while others pored into the bowl of the International Fountain. (It was not running, of course.) The afternoon’s speakers included Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Port Commissioner Hamdi Mohamed, Tesla Takedown organizer Devin Hermanson, ACLU-WA Executive Director Michele Storms, and former Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. The sound system could only reach about halfway across the crowd, but even the folks in the back got into the chants as the noise rolled across the campus like a wave.
Jayapal led the crowd in a call-and-response. “When Elon Musk and Donald Trump come for our immigrant community we say?” And the crowd roared back, “HANDS OFF!” “When they come for our trans siblings, we say?” “HANDS OFF!” “Hands off our bodies, our speech, our freedoms, our democracy!” she rallied. Then she got the crowd of thousands chanting, “Ain’t no power like the power of the people, and the power of the people won’t stop.”
And Sarah, a 17-year-old Running Start student and youth organizer, began her speech by proclaiming that she is everything Trump hates: Neurodivergent, an immigrant, and queer, and she pleaded with the crowd to stop Tump and his administration from fucking up her future. She asked how she’s supposed to go to college if we can’t be sure colleges will have funding. How is she supposed to be a teacher if it will be against the law to talk about who she loves in the classroom?
But it was Charles Douglas III of Common Power who made the most impressive observation of the afternoon. Recognizing the wealth disparity in Seattle, he said, “This is a home of people who own stock in major corporations and will benefit from Trump’s tax breaks that are coming up.” “Booooo!” the crowd roared. “Hold on, cause some of those people are you,” he quipped back.
“If it is you, I want you to think about the money and what you can do beyond just marching. It should not be that somebody who is low-income and somebody who owns stock in a major corporation are both doing the same thing right now. It shouldn’t. Your resistance and how much pain that you feel should be exactly related to how much money you make. If you have more, I need you to give more in this moment. If all you got is time, then give your time. But if you’ve got treasure, baby, you need to give it right now.” The crowd cheered. Hopefully, all those folks who seem to agree will take that motivation from today’s rally and call or email Gov. Ferguson to let him know he should reconsider his take on the wealth tax.
But I digress. Here are all the signs and shirts and dogs we saw at today’s rally. We’ll be posting more photos and video on Instagram and Bluesky soon, too. Good job showin’ up, Seattle.
The crowd chants “Hey hey, ho ho! Trump and Musk have got to go!”
— The Stranger (@thestranger.com) April 5, 2025 at 3:43 PM
This post has been updated since its original publication. It was Charles Douglas III of Common Power who made the speech about wealth disparity, not Riall Johnson as originally reported.
I am sure all these rallies in areas that voted against Trump are moving the public opinion mightily in areas the voted for Trump.
@1,
Rallies are also happening in areas that voted for Trump, dumbass. And even if they weren’t, why would you give a shit about a bunch of people you dislike coming together to rally in support of one another? You’re just a spiteful ass and I’m glad these folks are under your skin.
FUCKING
BRAVISSIMA
MEGAN SELING
And The Stranger!
yes
Yes.
YES!
oh
and
Bugger
OFF nihil.
Iconic
lede pic
Megan. 🙏
“Your resistance and how much pain that you feel should be exactly related to how much money you make.”
Such a depressing segue into a Marxist refrain and sinking yet again into identity politics, trying to upstage the focus off the Trump administration.
As The Stranger’s Eastern WA correspondent (at least for this weekend) I am happy to report that Ephrata, Moses Lake, Grand Coulee, and Omak all had impressive protests – with very little counter protesting.
I was there. Great turnout. Some decent speakers. Needed more music. But…GREAT TURNOUT!
There were too many people for the international fountain area so there was a constant flux of people trying to approach in order to hear the speeches. Too many people is a good thing for a protest but a march would have allowed to come up with an estimate of the number of participants to compare with prior mobilizations. The media says 1000s but it was way more than that.
If these protests accomplished anything of value, I would attend. But they do the opposite. They are a manifestation of inconsequential action, and everybody goes home feeling better, though nothing has changed. And nothing that moves the needle ever happens.
A better use of time would be calling a conservative family member and having a normal conversation not even about politics. We have some basic mending to do as a country. We have to be about to see things from each other’s perspectives. Reveling with the likeminded runs counter to that. These protests make us further polarized.
“We
have some
basic mending
to do as a country.”
which’s
what thedjt’s
Doing: ‘Mending’
Us into Oblivion, you
may ‘not be Crazy’ but
you’re Definitely Delusional.
‘centrism’ keeps
moving Ever into
the Abyss. take note
Delusional? In what regard? I never called for centrism.
I’m just saying that preaching to the choir is a waste of time, and counter productive, because it gives people the illusion of having an impact when they aren’t having any.
Better to try to get a conservative to relate to us.
“Better to try to get a conservative to relate to us.”
Same old Centrist song and dance. “Togetherness” doesn’t happen because you want it to. That is hubris. It comes from trust built up over time through word and deed.
Last I read, we are at 5 percent approval from our own base. That happened through word and deed over a protracted length of time, with Centrists in power, not progressives.
This is what actual progressives are saying, have been saying for decades but Centrists have been too busy demonizing us in order to ingratiate themselves with wealthy donors.
This isn’t betrayal by progressives. It is not progressives on the outs now, it is Centrists who are on the outs. You are turning reality on its head.
It is Centrists who need to get with the program. It is Centrists who need to wake the fuck up, return to our base and embrace a new generation of progressive fighters instead of doing everything in their power to keep us marginalized.
It is starting to happen, acknowledging that messaging matters, that the base matters, but we have all seen with our own eyes that this has been a painfully slow process, with lots of backsliding.
No one here is not voting for Democrats. Again, hubris thinking you know better than everyone else here. Of course we are going to vote progressive in the primaries — we are progressives! Good grief!
Us versus them? It sounds like
“us versus progressives”.
Again.
–@Paul C; Sandoval
Apr 06, 2025
oodles:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/5/2314408/-Democratic-governor-rips-Trump-for-turning-US-into-a-bad-reality-show
@9 You sound lazy.
@9 Going to a protest isn’t a replacement for talking to people. In fact, talking to people is very much necessary to encourage them to go to a protest and be counted. Protests are just another tool in the arsenal of democracy along with voting, debating, education, etc … They serve multiple purpose like showing the strength of a movement that is several orders of magnitude stronger than the number of people protesting and sending messages that circumvent the media owned by the same people that control political power.
Anyone with a very modest command of history knows that protests are always part of movements that result in significant positive change that is opposed by those in power.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Frederick Douglas
Hate to break it to you but your conservative relative is a lost cause. You can call them if that makes you feel like you’re doing something but it’s not any more helpful / less performative than attending a protest. People are just doing what feels right for them. If you want to do something different no one is stopping you.
@15 Agreed. And having a “normal conversation” with a Trump voter is actually counter-productive—it just normalizes their hate and toxicity. If you haven’t ghosted a Trump relative by now, you’re doing it wrong.
the magas’re
gonna Hafta go
Somewhere when
they Finally figure out
Thedonolde’s gonna screw
Them over too like a Contractor
Asking to be Paid for their Work.
Progressive policies, like those advocated by
Bernie’re attractive to Most Americans
perhaps they’ll gravitate toward
what they Need, not empty
rhetoric that makes them
feel Good about being
an Asshole – specially
when their Kids’re
starving and they
can’t afford to
take them to
the fucking
Doctor.
@9 this person says protests don’t change anything, but he wants us instead to call a conservative family member to talk about the weather. Never underestimate a centrist’s ability to come up with the worst possible solution to a problem.
Looks like the same crowd that thought “Defund the Police” was genius.
That turned out to be stupid (and dangerous)
@16: Not always.
@19 you’re stupid (and dangerous)
@2, They happened in all 50 states. States are not areas. They happened in the parts of red states that voted blue. E..g. Wisconsin went for Trump, but the rallies were in Milwaukee and Madison that went heavily for Harris.
So rallies that motivate a base that is already “blue”. A base that wasn’t large enough to win with in 2024. A base that shrank, and is shrinking, now that working-class voters no longer feel welcome in the Democrat tent.
Rallies that appeal to the issues important to those non-college educated, working-class voters, might get us out of this mess. But those kinds of issues weren’t what you saw on signs or heard in the speeches at those rallies, were they? Go ahead, point out the few exceptions that prove that rule.
Thank you, Megan, kristofarian, and everyone participating–YES YES YESSSSSS!!!
I wish I had known about these protests and could have made it down to Seattle for this event.
I would have worn my pink pussy hat. 8647!!!!
BBC:
The ‘3.5% rule’:
How a small minor-
ity can change the world
Chenoweth argues that nonviolent campaigns are more likely to succeed because they can recruit many more participants from a much broader demographic, which can cause severe disruption that paralyses normal urban life and the functioning of society.
During a peaceful street protest of millions of people, the members of the security forces may also be more likely to fear that their family members or friends are in the crowd – meaning that they fail to crack down on the movement.
“Or when they’re looking at the [sheer] numbers of people involved, they may just come to the conclusion the ship has sailed, and they don’t want to go down with the ship,” Chenoweth says.
In terms of the specific strategies that are used, general strikes “are probably one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, single method of nonviolent resistance”, Chenoweth says
–by David Robson; May 13, 2019
oodles:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
@23
you are
Most Welcome
auntie Gee! and the
Protests’ll likely find You.
Keep those eyes of yours peeled!
and
don’t
Forget
your Hat!
signs’re
Cool too!
@6 Catalina Vel-DuRay: Thank you for sharing about the protests east of the Cascades.
It’s encouraging that so many people are fed up with Mu$k and its sock puppet, Mein Trumpf,
and that hopefully some die had MAGAs are finally starting to see the writing on the wall that they,
too, have been screwed, blued, and tattooed by the RepubliKKKan Ripoff.
@24 kristofarian: Thank you, kris! My pussy hat and I have been out and about, and I’m indeed keeping my eyes peeled–at least locally–for protest activities (my beloved, trusty little VW is still in seasonal hibernation, and because my gallant knight in shining red armor is a stick shift we don’t drive on I-5 or busy highways, anymore). A bunch of people have already commented that they like my knitted pink, cat-eared hat.
A good local buddy and her boyfriend participated in a protest downtown, and told me about protest days.
I’ve gotta join the marches soon!! 8647!!!!
from the Cascadia Advocte:
Scenes [pix, etc] from [yester-] day’s
Hands Off! protests against
Trump and Musk from
around the Pacific
Northwest
Millions of Americans turned out on April 5th, 2025 for mass demonstrations against the Trump regime, including in the Pacific Northwest. Organizers characterized it as “a national mobilization.”
Olympia: The biggest crowd many folks had ever seen
Protecting Social Security was a major theme
Mark Brown writes: “Been hanging around this building for over 50 years and I’ve never seen a crowd this size. It stretched from the governors mansion all the way past winged victory statue.
People are angry. People are not going to sit idly by why the underpinnings of our democracy are being attacked one after another.”
In Redmond, attendees heard from City Councilmember and State Representative Osman Salahuddin and United States Representative Suzan DelBene.
“This is the energy that’s going to send a clear message to House Republicans, Musk and Trump for tanking our economy, attacking Social Security and Medicaid,” DelBene said.
“Spokane showed up for the Hands Off Rally! It was a wonderful, inspiring, peaceful protest. So many great signs! People twenty deep lined up all the way to Wellesley!” Stacey Shagool Ward reported.
Nick Giammona agreed: “What an incredible experience today. Very uplifting attending the Hands Off protest today in Spokane.
Thousands of fellow citizens protesting the actions of a traitorous regime. Young and old, white, black, asian Veterans, Federal workers, LGBTQ+. All walks of life — just like America. Truly inspiring.”
–by Andrew Villeneuve; April 5th, 2025
oodles:
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/04/scenes-from-todays-hands-off-protests-against-trump-and-musk-from-around-the-pacific-northwest.html
pay no Nevermind
to the Nihilists
they don’t be-
lieve in, well,
Anything.
@22,
You still haven’t clarified what it is about a gathering of like minded people coming together to celebrate one another in unified solidarity against an oppressive regime that rankles you? Goodness knows you spiteful, old cranks could organize your own rally and you just may find it every bit as cathartic and exhilarating as us! Why just imagine raising your fists in unified disparagement of these protests themselves! Or that whole “preferred pronoun” nonsense, e-scooters, and the crazy manner in which these new “musicians” spells their names, did that Megan Thee Stallion person fail her school’s English class or what!?!
I’d recommend you get to organizing ASAP though, as I believe the Knights of Columbus halls get booked up pretty quick this time of year.
good Idea, mike
I can see it now:
wormmy
and magoo
rilin’ up the neo-
cons garnering suppport
for war crimes on Our dimes
sponsored by Pepsi aipac & Mirilax
whilst we kick back
and give them
very Helpful
pointers
pro fucking bono.
Useless mummery.
Nothing more than a blob of people who all believe the same thing patting themselves on the back.
I doubt anyone’s position on any topic was changed.
yep.
you
cannot
Reach the
Unreachable
but
that’s
Not the goal.
@22, Spending time and resources to preach to those who already agree with you doesn’t add more people to the political coalition you need to win.
It doesn’t bring back people who fled the Democrat Party in the last election. Hint: Those people aren’t in Washington State, Milwaukee, or Madison. The messaging of said rallies doesn’t appeal to issues that the voter’s who fled find compelling. It just makes the losers of the last election more fired up and passionate. It doesn’t pursuade those who left their coalition to rejoin it so its a coalition that wins.
There was a rally in the small rust belt town where I grew up. Of course the rallies in bigger cities are going to catch more attention but that doesn’t mean those are the only place where they’re happening, that these rallies only appeal to urban liberals, or that people in small towns don’t care about the same issues as people in cities.
It always kills me when people from liberal cities think people in small towns only care about factory jobs or immigrants or whatever. It’s a display of the very urban elitism you claim to be calling out.
@9
No reason why you can’t do both.
And yes, I’ve had passionate (and polite) conversations with one non-voting friend and a 3 time Trump voter. Once they’ve made up their minds, good luck. They have to figure it out on their own.
@31
What was the goal?
Was there a goal?
Any demonstration or protest whose aim is not to win people to their cause is at best, performance art.
@33, There are people in small rural place and cities that care about the same things as people in big urban areas.
Just a hell of a lot fewer of them as a percentage of the local population.
I quipped on a local social media page in Seattle during the last party caucuses, that both the local Republicans should report to there precinct caucus.
What you report in terms of turnout in that rust belt, small town rally is the flip side if my Seattle quip.
Those small towns and small cities are the geography to target. Now the Dems need to come up with issues they can champion that will bring back working class voters in thise areaa rather than doubling down on ones that got those voters taking a pass on rejoining the Democrat tent.
@35
what’s the Goal?
omg — we hadn’t really
Thought about it! Earth’s markets’re
Collapsing around us, peeps’re being Shanghaied
right Off our Streets and exported to foreign
torture centers, women Denied Agency
our Liberal Democracy fucking
DESTROYED — I dunno,
maybe wevStop the
fucking Steal?
if we can get just
3.5% of Americans
11 or so millions in a
National Strike, stopping
the Wheels, the tipping point
may be Reached. and then what?
excellent question
and well-above
My paygrade
(have you and your
neocon buddies
got any good
Pointers?)
[I bet
you Do].
As a Gen Xer I don’t understand why so many of my generation (and younger) are so afraid of going to protests. In the case of the Xer’s, we got sold a load of swill by Reagan and were often embarrassed by our older hippy-turned-yuppy Boomer siblings, and were told by Huey Lewis that it was “hip to be square”, but you’d think that we’d have gotten over that by now.
As for the younger generations, they have a completely different social milieu and seem to want to avoid talking in person or on the phone, and have a weird aversion to revolving doors, so maybe it has something to do with that.
There were plenty of Gen X people (like me) there along with the older folks. There was a pretty good Millennial contingent. But Gen Z was underrepresented. I did bring my 18-year old kid along and we were quoted in the Cascadia PBS story about the protest.
@38 did you see this? https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-city-light-investigation-group-worked-drunk-sexually-harrassed-co-workers/