The US will witness its second wave of protests in a fortnight on Saturday as organizers seek to turn discontent with Donald Trump’s presidency into a mass movement that will eventually translate into action at the ballot box.
More than 400 rallies are anticipated across the nation loosely organized by the group 50501, which stands for 50 protests in 50 states, one movement.
It is the fourth protest event to be staged by the group since Trump was inaugurated on 20 January. Previous events included a “No Kings Day” on President’s Day, 17 February, a theme adopted before Trump referred to himself as a king in a social media post days later.
Tens of thousands rally against Trump at DC ‘Hands Off’ protest
Organizers have called for 11 million people to participate in the latest rallies, representing 3.5% of the US population.
Such a figure would likely the surpass the numbers who took part in the “Hands Off” rallies staged on 5 April, when 1,200 demonstrations were staged across the US to register opposition to Trump’s assault on government agencies and institutions, spearheaded by the president’s chief lieutenant, the tech billionaire Elon Musk and his unofficial “department of government efficiency” (Doge) unit.
Indivisible, the progressive movement behind the “Hands Off” events said it was it was seeking to send a message to opposition politicians and ordinary voters that vocal resistance to Trump’s policies was essential. It also said it was seeking to build momentum that would lead to further and larger protests.
Heather Dunn, a spokesperson for 50501, said the goal of Saturday’s protests is “to protect our democracy against the rise of authoritarianism under the Trump administration”.
She called the group a “pro-democracy, pro-constitution, anti-executive overreach, nonviolent grassroots movement” that was nonpartisan.
“We have registered Democrats, registered independents and registered Republicans all marching because they all believe in America, because they all believe in a fair government that puts people before profits,” she told the Washington Post.
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Academics who have tracked the slide of democracy into authoritarianism say protests can be part of a wider of strategy to reverse the trend.
“Oppositions to authoritarian governments have to use multiple channels always,” said Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University and co-author, with Daniel Ziblatt, of How Democracies Die. “They have to use the courts where those are available. They have to use the ballot box when that’s available, and they have to use the streets when necessary – that can shape media framing and media discourse, which is very, very important.”
In Washington DC on Saturday, protests are scheduled to take place outside vice-president JD Vance’s home, on the grounds of the Washington Naval Observatory, as well as in Lafayette Square. A march is planned starting nearby the George Washington monument that will head towards the White House in support of Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran man with US protected status wrongly deported to El Salvador from Maryland, according to court rulings.
