On a sunny, breezy Saturday late morning in Tucson, thousands of locals filled East 22nd Street, joining the nationwide Hands Off! protest to voice opposition to the Trump administration and Elon Musk.
Among the diverse crowd were teachers, veterans, and students, all part of the mass mobilization. Many participants described feeling energized, hopeful, and proud to take a stand. One of them was Monica Joyce-Walker, 66, who retired to Tucson three years ago after relocating from Seattle.
“We are so heartened to see the people are united with us and our feeling about how fragile democracy is … it’s solidarity, it makes you feel hopeful,” she said, noting “the damage that has been done since Jan. 20th is beyond anything that we could have ever imaged in my lifetime.” Some of her primary concerns are social programs and the “budget cuts to give the wealthy tax cuts.”
The April 5 protest, organized by grassroots group Mobilize Tucson, drew an estimated 15,000 attendees, according to initial counts by the organizers. Protesters lined both sides of East 22nd Street along the southern edge of Reid Park, stretching from South Alvernon Way to South Country Club Road.
Retirees held signs condemning Donald Trump and Elon Musk, while crowds chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go.” At times, the chants were nearly drowned out by a chorus of car horns, mostly in support, as traffic crawled past the packed sidewalks.
One older woman in the passenger seat of her car held a sign that said, “Thank you, Tucson.” A passenger in a yellow jeep held up a sign that said “Support Federal Workers.”
The crowd seemed to be primarily Democrats, and no counter-protesters were seen in the area.
Bennett Burke, a media spokesperson for Mobilize Tucson, said he was surprised at the turnout.
“Our estimates when we arrived were 4,000 people, and that was based on RSVPs to sign up … We are hoping to make more and more people aware of the things that are happening,” Burke said. He added, “We ask to remove this regime, reverse the damage they’ve done, and reclaim our democracy.”
Thousands of Arizonans: join anti-Trump ‘Hands Off!’ protests across the state
Mobilize Tucson
Mobilize Tucson promoted the mass mobilization to fight back against President Donald Trump and Musk. The organization said it wants the world to know that it does not consent to the “destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies.”
By 10 a.m., an hour before the protest was scheduled to start, demonstrators were already lining up, with the crowd largely made up of older adults and retirees. Among them was 65-year-old Kathleen Collier, a veteran and former Veterans Affairs employee, who voiced deep concern about potential cuts. She was concerned her benefits would be “decimated,” she said.
“They are already starting with just the workers, and it’s going to come down to our benefits, like those of us who served for 20 years, and it’s just said … they’ve already made changes to how they determine certain disabilities,” Collier said.
While many attendees were local, one couple, Democrats Mary Kirpes, 74, and veteran Bruce Guffey, 73, travelled 70 miles from Coolidge, in Pinal County, to protest.
“We don’t want to lose democracy in this country,” Guffey said.
“I don’t want a king for president, that’s why I have a sign that says no kings,” Kirpes added. They traveled to Tucson because they wanted to be part of a larger movement, rather than “ten people on a corner and get spit at” in their small city, Kirpes said. However, Guffey added that most people in their mostly Republican area are still friendly.
As the morning went on, the crowd swelled with families, students, and young professionals joining the protest. Among them was 26-year-old Haley Huckabee, a middle school science teacher and student at Pima Community College. Studying environmental biology, Huckabee said environmental issues are a top priority for her.
“With the policies and pulling out of the New Deal again, there is nothing to help our environment. We only live on this planet, there is not another planet we can live on, so we need to show up and let them know that all this pollution, all these oil rigs, and bad policies they are implementing against the environment, and firing these park rangers, it’s not helping us. It’s making it worse,” Huckabee said. “We only have Earth to live on, we can’t go anywhere else.”
Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Teachers, veterans, and students mobilize for Tucson protest