2 weeks Ago By Will Costello
Hundreds of protesters, an estimated 900 according to a rough early count by volunteers, opposed to the Donald Trump administration packed the sidewalks along Eisenhower Boulevard west of U.S. 287 Saturday morning to hear speakers and protest recent federal actions, part of a nationwide protest movement Saturday.
Hundreds of protesters packed the sidewalks along Eisenhower Boulevard on Saturday morning to protest the Trump administration as part of the nationwide “Hands Off!” movement. (Will Costello / Loveland Reporter Herald).“Hands Off!” a national mass action, featured protests across the country Saturday, with demonstrations in both Loveland and Fort Collins as well as Greeley, Longmont, Lyons and Denver.
Protesters carried signs criticizing Elon Musk and Donald Trump, with many reading “Hands Off!” various programs or institutions, while chanting and waving at passing traffic, cheering as drivers honked in support.Protesters stood shoulder to shoulder on both sides of the highway, wrapping around Dwayne Webster Veterans Park and the southern shore of Lake Loveland, wrapped in coats and scarves to stave off the chilly weather and light snow.“Hands Off!” focuses on demanding the current presidential administration refrain from attacks on institutions, legal protections and funding that serve a variety of groups including seniors, veterans, students, immigrants, federal employees and others.
Loveland joined other cities in this region – Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont, Lyons and Denver – as well as ones across the United States with Hands Off! protests against the Trump administration. (Will Costello / Loveland Reporter-Herald)Speakers included Larimer County Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally, Thompson School Board member Dawn Kirk, Heart and Sol Executive Director Caitlin Wyrick, PFLAG Fort Collins President Reggie Johnson, Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Larimer County Kathy Maher and Carla Felts, a combat veteran and clinical therapist. Many of these speakers came prepared with specific areas they focused their remarks on, like ballot access, protections for transgender people or VA benefits.
“Today, our fair, robust, sensible and secure election system is under attack by the one-two punch of an overreaching executive order and a deceptive bill introduced in Congress,” Maher said of two measures introduced that would tighten requirements for voter registration. “We will not stand for it. We have a simple message for the president and Congress.
Hands off our ballots.”The League of Women Voters has joined a lawsuit against the executive order, and Maher said it stood in opposition of LWV’s mission to support access to the ballot.“Hands off our public lands, our natural resources, our forests, our parks,” Shadduck-McNally said in relation to cuts in funding and staffing for public lands.
“Rocky Mountain National Park has 4.5 million people coming every year. That’s an economic driver for our communities, and jobs for our communities and residents.
Hands off.”After the speakers finished, many of the gathered protesters marched east on Eisenhower Boulevard towards U.S.
287, where they joined up with another local demonstration of a nationwide movement, Tesla Takedown.Those protests have been held every Saturday for weeks outside the Loveland Tesla dealership, and the crowd stretched for blocks as it headed down both sides of the street.“Turnout’s been amazing,” said Dawn Morehouse, a volunteer with IndivisibleNOCO and one of the lead organizers of Saturday’s event, as she moved with the crowd toward the Tesla dealership.
“So many more people showed up than I anticipated. But it really speaks to the concerns, the passions, the fears that people have, and the interest they have in doing something.”.
