Miami Valley communities join in nationwide ‘Hands Off’ protests

MIAMI VALLEY — Hundreds of protestors gathered across the Miami Valley to take part in the nationwide movement against the Trump administration on Saturday.

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Community members gathered outside the Dayton Courthouse Square and Xenia Courthouse to participate in the “Hands Off” protests.

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These movements were organized by LGBTQ+ advocates, civil rights organizations, veterans, labor unions, and election activists.

The AP reports that the protests took place in more than 1,200 locations across all 50 states.

>>PHOTOS: Miami Valley communities join in nationwide ‘Hands Off’ protests

In Xenia, people chanted as cars drove by and held signs that read “The power of the people is greater than the people in power” and “hands off our democracy.”

Ohioans gathered to voice their opinions in other cities, including Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Toledo and Cleveland.

All protests seemed peaceful, as there were no immediate reports of arrests.

Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.

Musk, a Trump adviser who runs Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in the downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He said he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

Asked about the protests, the White House said in a statement that “President Trump’s position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats’ stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.”

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, criticized the administration’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community at the rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where Democratic members of Congress also took the stage.

“The attacks that we’re seeing, they’re not just political. They are personal, y’all,” Robinson said. “They’re trying to ban our books, they’re slashing HIV prevention funding, they’re criminalizing our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives.”

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