AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

We look now at the massive protests that erupted Saturday as over a million people took to the streets nationwide to tell President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, “Hands Off!” saying no to the Trump administration’s dismantling of federal agencies and social programs and its attacks on LGBTQ people, immigrants, education, healthcare, science, free speech and reproductive rights. The coordinated “Hands Off!” protests are the largest demonstrations since President Trump returned to office. They took place across all 50 states and across the world.

In Europe, thousands gathered in Berlin, Paris and London to respond to Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have shocked the global economy. This is a banker speaking from London.

LISA GRAZIANI: He’s a horrible, small-minded person who is easily maneuvered. And the people who are maneuvering him are very, very, very dangerous. And he’s very dangerous, but he’s a small-minded and not, frankly, very smart person. So, no, I just — I hope — I don’t know what to hope. I just hope this is over soon.

AMY GOODMAN: Thousands also took to the streets across Canada to protest Trump’s repeated threats of making Canada the 51st U.S. state. Demonstrators condemned Trump’s remarks as a threat to Canadian sovereignty. This is a Vancouver protester.

HARMONY P.: Today I’m out here to send a simple, clear message to the United States that we are not going to want to be a part of you. We’re never going to want to be a part of you. This is very close to becoming a reality down there. Right now we have our very own election, which is extremely scary with what we are seeing as being the unsaid messages from one side. And I’m here as a visual reminder to let people know that we’re not going to let this happen. We are not going to sit quietly.

AMY GOODMAN: In the United States, there were over 1,200 protests, like this one in Los Angeles.

JAMES UTT: Well, I marched before when he first got elected a number of years ago, and I still can’t believe that he got elected again. And I can’t believe that he’s tanking the economy and he’s tanking the government. And it’s all being done for him and for Elon Musk and all the billionaires and everybody else. It’s not for me. It’s not for the people who live in my neighborhood. It’s for all of these billionaires. And I’m glad to see so many people came out today. I mean, we need it. I want more people to show up and get him out of office. He’s terrible.

AMY GOODMAN: There were over 20 protests across the state of Colorado, like this one in Denver in the freezing cold, including former and current workers.

MARINA CONNORS: My name is Marina Connors. And this one says “Hands Off! Public Lands.” I’m a retired National Park Service employee. And it’s kind of — it’s really hard to run the parks, and to do it under these circumstances is even more and more difficult.

FEDERAL WORKER: I am federal employee today and hope that I can stay that, hope that I can stay employed so that I can continue to serve the American people who I swore to serve when I took my oath of office.

AMY GOODMAN: That federal worker covered her face, but her sign said — with her sign. It said, “I want DEI in schools, not measles.” Protesters, estimated to be in the tens of thousands, gathered in Washington, D.C., in mass opposition of Trump’s policies. A sea of banners and placards filled the Washington Mall, including signs that read “Resist like it’s 1938 Nazi Germany” and “Fascism alive and well and living in the White House.” Speakers included Congressmembers Ilhan Omar and Jamie Raskin.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN: They say, though, well, the number of courts striking down Trump’s policies is completely unprecedented. Well, so what? That’s only because the number of his illegal actions are completely unprecedented. The judges are doing their jobs. They’re doing their jobs. Let’s tell MAGA what democratic movements all over the world tell the dictators of the world: Hands off the courts! Hands off the courts!

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, another protest Saturday in D.C. demanded an arms embargo against Israel and an end to the Gaza genocide and the release of Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk and other foreign university students and faculty who remain in ICE detention, targeted for their involvement in Palestinian rights protests. This is Mohamad Habehh from the American Muslims for Palestine.

MOHAMAD HABEHH: I’m here today because for the past year and a half we have seen the utter destruction going on in Gaza, funded by American taxpayer dollars. We’ve seen it in the previous administration, and we see now that Donald Trump is continuing and making it worse for the people in Gaza. After a month of fasting in the month of Ramadan, we saw that the people in Gaza were suffering a famine, as well as seeing Israel break the ceasefire and begin massacring Palestinians throughout the month and on the day of Eid. I’m here today because I want the people of Gaza to see that the American people will not accept this, that the American people will stand up against our government as they continue to support this genocide.

EUGENE PURYEAR: My name is Eugene Puryear. I’m with the ANSWER Coalition, and we’re demanding the immediate end of the genocide in Gaza. The U.S. should stop all of its forms of complicity and facilitation of that genocide and do everything in its power to bring it to an end immediately. And we’re also demanding the release of the students who have been taken off the streets, abducted and jailed simply for standing with the Palestinian people, and for all those who have been repressed because of the steps they have taken to stand up for the right of self-determination and liberation of Palestine to have all charges, all lawsuits or anything like that dropped, and allow people to speak up and speak out against this genocide.

AMY GOODMAN: And here in New York City, up to 100,000 people took to the streets in Manhattan, marching from Bryant Park to Madison Square Park. Democracy Now! was there. There were many issues discussed, among them, Rümeysa Öztürk, that Tufts student who was sent to Louisiana after being driven to Vermont, picked off the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts, by masked agents. A judge has ruled her case has to be sent back to Vermont. These were some of the voices.

SARAH: My name is Sarah. I’m not with a group. I went to Tufts University, and that is where Rümeysa Öztürk was disappeared from. And she is owed due process and a chance to continue her education. And she was here legally, and it should never be considered illegal to write an op-ed. Whether you agree or disagree with what she said, it’s her right. And I just want her to be free. And I want that for all the people who have been disappeared by the Trump administration.

AMY GOODMAN: Is the Tufts community active on Rümeysa’s case?

SARAH: Yes. So, I know the president sent out an email the other day. The university is standing with Rümeysa and her lawyers, and also many of my fellow alum have stood up, signed letters and taken action to free Rümeysa and get justice for her.

CHRISTINE HARRINGTON: Christine Harrington, and I’m with lots of friends. And I’m a professor at NYU. And we’re —

AMY GOODMAN: What do you teach?

CHRISTINE HARRINGTON: I teach law and politics. So, I watched you.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think is happening to the universities?

CHRISTINE HARRINGTON: There are — you know, some of them are caving. And the first ones are caving, not so good. Not so good at all. But that’s why we’re out here.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think the universities should do?

CHRISTINE HARRINGTON: Fight back. Make it clear this is unacceptable, it has never happened, and it will not happen. I mean, to mobilize together. But the caving we saw, starting with Columbia, and the spread, has just made some universities figure, “Duck and cover. You know, we’ll get through this.” That’s not what universities should be about.

PROTESTERS: Hey hey, ho ho! Trump and Musk have got to go! Hey hey, ho ho! Trump and Musk have got to go!

JANINE GEORGETTE: My name is Janine Georgette. I can’t believe I still have to protest this [bleep], because I can’t believe it. I mean, I’ve been out protesting since I was about 5, was the first time I remember holding a sign. That we are so under attack, our country is being torn down, I don’t really know why. Like, I don’t get what they get from tearing our country apart. But they are pulling it down. And so, I’m out here to try to keep it upright.

AMY GOODMAN: What does the other side say?

JANINE GEORGETTE: “Payback is a [bleep], and she votes.”

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think a protest like this of tens of thousands of people can make a difference?

JANINE GEORGETTE: You know, I saw it make a difference in the Vietnam War. When so many people get together like this, politicians notice. And so, yes, the protests around the Vietnam War stopped it. There’s no doubt in my mind. And so, this kind of activism, they notice. They take note.

BLANCA VALLE: I’m Blanca Valle. My sign says “Stop the mass kidnappings with no due process, dictator wanna-be & felon Donald Trump.” Yeah, yeah, I’m just very upset about him taking these people and sending them to El Salvador without any due process. Yeah, he says that it’s because they are from Tren de Aragua, but he didn’t prove this. He didn’t give any of these people a chance, an opportunity to say whether they are from that gang or not. That, to me, is just BS. He’s even defying the judge’s orders even during appeal. That is just BS, and we can’t stand for that.

NIH SCIENTIST: I’m a probationary worker at the NIH, and I’m a staff scientist.

AMY GOODMAN: All probationary workers weren’t fired?

NIH SCIENTIST: All probation — no, they weren’t fired. But a good 40% or so were fired. So, I don’t know the exact numbers.

AMY GOODMAN: And what does your sign say?

NIH SCIENTIST: We just need to fund science and stop the cuts and stop funding billionaires and stop going for their actual purposes, where we want to, you know, really reeducate the population. We need more funding in science. You know, new epidemics are going to start coming out, unless we actually start putting more investment in research and more investment in public health.

RABBI BARAT ELLMAN: I’m Rabbi Barat Ellman. I’m out here because we’re on the brink. We have to stand up against this encroaching authoritarianism and fascism. And I’m definitely scared for our democracy. And we have to be in the streets, not just this week, but every week.

AMY GOODMAN: How do you feel about President Trump going after universities in the name of combating antisemitism?

RABBI BARAT ELLMAN: I am so distressed and angry about that. His weaponization of antisemitism is going to make Jews — is going to be dangerous for Jews. But also, it’s just a cynical use of this idea, which — from his Cabinet, which has so many people whose antisemitism is widely demonstrated, for him to then try to claim that he’s on our behalf. And it’s also so completely blatantly false. You know, someone protesting the war in Gaza is not endangering myself as a Jew. And frankly, I also think the whole portrayal of the safety issue on campuses for Jews has been widely, widely overrepresented, and failing to talk about, you know, the safety of Muslims and Palestinians on campus. So, I’m a rabbi, and I’m a very active Jewish — I’m very active as a Jew. And frankly, his weaponization of this, of antisemitism, I find grotesque and scary and wrong.

ISAAC: My name is Isaac. I made this sign to say 1825. It’s because everything that we have made, 200 years of progress since 1864, is being taken away. They already went after women’s rights. They already went after Latino rights. They ain’t gonna stop until they come after everybody, until we get thrown back to 19th-century America again. Need I say more?

AMY GOODMAN: What’s your name? What’s your sign, and why are you here?

SUSAN: My name is Susan. I’m here because this man is not fit to be president. A president doesn’t tell people to digest bleach and die in parking lots instead of getting healthcare, instead of getting lunch, instead of defending our allies in Europe, defending democracy in the world.

AMY GOODMAN: What does your sign say?

SUSAN: My sign says “No more tariffs, no kings, and no third term.” This is not how a president behaves.

PROTESTERS: No more tariffs! No third time!

AMY GOODMAN: Voices from the “Hands Off!” protest in New York City. Estimates are up to 100,000 people marched on Saturday in the rain. Some of the million who marched around the globe.

This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we look at the impact of Trump’s tariffs on heavily indebted countries in the Global South. Back in 20 seconds.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Bofou Safou” by Amadou & Mariam in our 2018 interview at Democracy Now!’s studios. Malian guitarist and singer Amadou Bagayoko died last week at the age of 70.