50,000 attend “Hands Off” rally In St Paul, MN
St. Paul, MN – At least 50,000 people rallied here April 5 against Trump’s racist and anti-worker agenda. The Saint Paul rally was held in front if the Minnesota State Capitol. The rallies took place on the same day in over 1200 cities around the U.S. as part of a national coordinated protest and drew crowd sizes that far surpassed expectations.
The “Hands Off” rallies were initially called to protest Trump’s agenda and his first three months in office, which have seen a slew of attacks on the working class and oppressed people.
Many at the rally were there with signs and slogans opposing Trump’s handing over of the federal government to Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, who got his start with money from an apartheid emerald mine his parents ran in South Africa. Musk has been installed by Trump to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been given access to confidential and personal data for millions of Americans and has used the position to slash services and jobs in the federal government.
Recently, Trump unilaterally and illegally stripped over 700,000 federal workers of their union and their contract. The grievances against Trump’s agenda and actions are many, and the protest reflected that with signs and speeches, while raising the broader slogan “Hands off!”
In addition to Saint Paul similar rallies were held in many cities across Minnesota and across the country. In the port city of Duluth, Minnesota, several thousand came to the event, and good attendance was reported from other cities around the state.
A wide range of speakers addressed the crowd from the stage, including labor leaders. MN AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham delivered a speech which ended with a call to come out to the May Day march being planned for May 1 by local immigrant rights and labor groups. Flyers were handed out through the crowd about the upcoming May Day march as well.
These rallies locally and nationally represent the largest protests to date since Trump took office.