(BIVN) – Thousands on Hawaiʻi island took to the street on Saturday to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk since the administration took office this year.

Large crowds gathered in Hilo, Kona, Waimea, and Kaʻū – joining the thousands who demonstrated on the other Hawaiian islands, and the millions on the continental United States. Participants carried various signs, many with the message “HANDS OFF!”, rejecting Trump administration attempts to dismantle federal programs and services.

According to the North Hawaiʻi Action Network, which helped organize the demonstration in Waimea, Saturday’s event was part of “more than 1,300 other HANDS OFF! protests in all 50 states coordinated by Indivisible, 50501, and dozens of other civil, immigration, women’s and workers’ rights groups”.

Photo of the “Hands Off” demonstration in Waimea courtesy Lynn Beittel, Visionary Video

“Together, we are fighting back,” said North Hawaiʻi Action Network leader, Doris Segal Matsunaga, “demanding that the federal government keep its HANDS OFF our Social Security, our children and teachers, our Medicaid, our veterans, our parks, our air traffic controllers, our weather service, the CDC, FDA and our entire economy and jobs.” 

“We are in a Constitutional crisis and it’s now all hands on deck. Our voices matter,” Matsunaga said.