Demonstration in San Francisco.   Over 20,000 protest Trump's policies    [ Photo: Bill Hackwell ] 

Washington, April 7 (RHC)-- Over one million people took to the streets Saturday in the largest protests since President Trump returned to the White House. 

More than 1,400 protests under the banner of “Hands Off!” took place across all 50 states, as well as in some cities overseas. Across the country organizers said turnout was far higher than expected. 

Some of the largest protests were held in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta. 

In Washington, D.C., speakers included Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Rep. Ilhan Omar: “We are currently living through a president who wants to be a dictator. In America, we do not accept dictators, and we do not accept kings.  We have a billionaire who has bought a seat next to the president, using him as a puppet.  American democracy has never been for sale, and it won’t be today.”

Anu Joshi of the American Civil Liberties Union also spoke at the “Hands Off!” rally in Washington.

Anu Joshi: “The unconscionable and unconstitutional arrests of international students and scholars should alarm every one of us.  ICE has illegally snatched people from their homes and neighborhoods, 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.”

In Washington, D.C., thousands of protesters also took part in a “Stop the Genocide” rally to protest U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza.  This all came as the U.S. president spent another weekend golfing in Florida.

[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW and NEWS AGENCIES ]