BOSTON (AP) — Chanting “Stop the coup” and carrying signs including “I Love Democracy” and “Resist,” hundreds of people rallied Friday in Boston against the policies of President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk.
The peaceful rally in freezing conditions was supported by 100 civil rights, environmental and progressive groups from Massachusetts. Speaker after speaker decried administration policies targeting marginalized communities and urged the crowd to oppose what they called an attack on democracy.
“I’m here because I’m extremely concerned about my grandchildren, especially my granddaughter who’s not going to have the same rights that I have had in terms of controlling my body and all the rights that we’ve experienced and I’ve grown up with,” said Diane Bleier, a 76-year-old from Lexington, at the rally in Boston Common.
“They’re going to be taken away if this evildoer continues to run rampant over the government and destroy our rights and destroy our democracy,” she continued.
Others criticized what they see as a dismantling of the federal government.
“It’s important to stand up and protest and not just stay home and do nothing,” said Ellen Epstein, a Medford resident holding a sign that read “Stop the Trumpster Fire.” “I feel compelled to stand up for what’s right. What is happening now is very wrong.”
Others stressed the need to support and protect immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities, which have been the target of Trump administration policies in the early days of the administration.
“Our government is trying to erase our people, the people that make up our beautiful country including queer people, trans people, immigrants, Black and Indigenous people of color,” Logan Rubio, a 27-year-old Boston resident holding a sign that said “Queerness is Healing.” “It’s vile and disgusting.”
Rally organizers said they hoped to pressure political leaders to show moral courage and resist Trump’s agenda.
The rally came the same day that layoffs were implemented across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce and a day after vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as health secretary.
