A steady stream of honking car horns mixed with chants and cheers Saturday as hundreds of people lined Route 31 outside the Pennington Quality Market, joining tens of thousands nationwide in a day of coordinated protest against the second-term policies of President Donald Trump and top adviser Elon Musk.
The Pennington and Hopewell rally, stretching four deep from Delaware Avenue past Burger King, was one of more than 20 demonstrations across New Jersey as part of the “Hands Off!” protest movement. Despite gray skies and intermittent rain, demonstrators waved signs, cheered, and shared personal reasons for showing up — citing concerns ranging from reproductive rights and LGBTQ protections to agriculture, immigration, and economic justice.
“I have a family member who risked his life and health to fight for our country, and to see what’s happening to our veterans is deplorable,” said one marcher. “I’m using this march to make my voice heard.”
Others came with umbrellas and years of personal history behind their protest. One young person showed up for their mom, who helped organize the event. Another came to support immigrant laborers, farmers, or LGBTQ workers in their community. “Anything I can do on a daily basis is important, no matter how small,” one protester said. And another said, “I’ve been carrying this pro-choice sign for 25 years.”
Across the country, demonstrators rallied in defense of national parks, small businesses, public education, health care for veterans, abortion rights, and fair elections — while opposing tariffs, oligarchy, dark money, the deportation of legal immigrants, and what many described as the dismantling of democracy under the Trump administration. Many carried handmade signs with messages like “Hands off my democracy,” “I’m tariffied — are you?” and “Only you can prevent forest fires. Seriously. We’ve been defunded.”
The “Hands Off” movement was designed to be intentionally local. Organizers — including MoveOn, Indivisible, and the Women’s March — said they opted against a single national march in favor of hundreds of grassroots rallies that could reach communities that may not have joined larger protests during Trump’s first term. Hopewell’s rally was part of that strategy to meet people where they live — and mobilize new voices.
New Jersey saw rallies in Cape May, Atlantic City, Montclair, Red Bank, Union City, Princeton, and more. In Brookdale Park, on the border of Montclair and Bloomfield, an estimated 8,000 people gathered to hear U.S. Sen. Cory Booker speak — his first major public appearance since completing a 25-hour Senate floor speech opposing Trump’s agenda.
“What we are showing here once and for all is the power of the people is greater than the people in power,” Booker said.
In Washington, D.C., police shut down streets near the National Mall as a crowd of more than 100,000 filled the area. Protesters there, and in cities from Chicago to Phoenix to Atlanta, carried American flags — some displayed upside down to signal national distress — and called out threats to veterans’ benefits, public health agencies, the IRS, Social Security, due process, and more. Some said they were marching for the first time. Others, like a retired protester in New York, compared it to her way of going to war for democracy.
photos by Diane Carroll, additional reporting by Seth Siditsky
