‘Democracy is under siege.’ Thousands gather in downtown SLO to protest Trump
Around 5,000 people gathered in front of San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Saturday with a message for President Donald Trump: “Hands off!”
“’Hands off’ is about respecting the rule of law, that’s really the main gist,” protest organizer and second-year Cal Poly student Talie Krantz told The Tribune. “We’re seeing this overreach of government, particularly in our federal government between Trump and Musk, and we’re seeing them taking advantage of their power and overstepping. That’s resulting in harm.”
Krantz, who is an officer for the Cal Poly Democrats Club, noted cuts to social services like medicare, social security and veteran’s benefits were just some of examples of overreach that would be “unacceptable” because they are services who help people — in particular people in vulnerable populations.
The protest, which was part of a national day of action by 50501, was aimed at taking a stand against the Trump administration. Philip, one of the founders of 50501’s Central Coast branch who declined to give his last name, told The Tribune he and the other founders wanted to help people feel empowered as democracy faces a crisis.
“The important thing for people to understand is that if they are feeling powerless, they are not,” he said. “The fundamental reason that 50501 exists is as a people’s movement. Anyone can step up and find a role for how they can help resist the current government.”
He said 50501 is a national grassroots movement born out of a social media call out to have at least one protest against the current presidential administration in all 50 states on the same day. He said he expects more organizing to take place in the future.
Indivisible San Luis Obispo County and San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party also helped organize the demonstration.
Signs carried by demonstrators throughout the protest demanded “hands off” from various issues, including social security, public lands, the courts, the health department and “our democracy.”
San Luis Obispo Police Department closed Monterey Street from Osos to Santa Rosa streets during the rally. Thousands of protesters lined the sidewalks on both sides of the streets surrounding the courthouse.
Another “Hands Off!” rally was expected to be held in Cambria on Saturday as well at the corner of Cambria Drive and Main Street.
Protest is ‘start of a movement,’ SLO County supervisor says
San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Bruce Gibson called the demonstration the “start of a movement.”
“It’s a movement to reestablish the crucial nature of American values that we treasure,” Gibson told the Tribune, adding that the rule of law and freedom of speech are just two crucial values under attack that need to be upheld.
“This is like the start of the protest against war in Vietnam,” Gibson said. “That may seem like ancient history to some number of people in this crowd, but that movement changed history and it is that similar presence of people on the street speaking out that’s going to change things now.”
Surprise speaker California congressman Salud Carbajal, D-24, told the crowd, “We are here today because our democracy is under siege.”
“Not by a foreign power, but from within,” he said during his speech. “From a reckless wannabe dictator who has returned to the White House with vengeance, Donald Trump.”
Carbajal claimed Trump’s movement “wants to gut the rule of law, dismantle public institutions and centralized power in the hands of corrupt, few autocrats.”
The congressman denounced Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to slash social services from a number of federal departments, including the Department of Education, Health and Human Services Department and Housing and Urban Development Department.
“They’re stripping down the Department of Education, undermining our children’s education, teachers and rewriting history to serve and agenda of fear and division,” he said.
He encouraged those in the crowd to organize more demonstrations and to become more politically involved on the local level, encouraging people to show up at school boards, city councils and the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors.
“When the time comes, vote like your rights, your freedoms and your future depend on it. Because they do,” Carbajal told the crowd. “This is all hands on deck. Congress cannot do this alone. The courts cannot stand alone. We need every voice, every vote every ounce of energy. We need all of you to continue to stand up and to resist this ridiculous bulls--t.”
People ‘want to defend California,’ assemblymember says during rally
Other speakers included San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart; state Assemblymember Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay: founder of Mujeres en Acción and local activist Yesenia Echevarria; Planned Parenthood Central Coast public affairs manager Mariam Shah; GALA board president Julia Thompson; San Luis Obispo Democratic Party chair Tom Fulks; and biologist Ben Vizzachero, who was fired by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Retired San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Steve Crandall and a retired federal administrative law judge Alex Karlin also attended the rally.
Echevarria told the crowd she felt it was important for her to represent her community at the protest. She is the proud daughter of immigrant parents, she said, and a lot of immigrants are terrified at what is happening under the current administration.
She told the crowd that democrats, independents and republicans “who hopefully by now realize they’ve been lied to,” need to come together to fight the current administration’s policies and protect the rights everyone in America is afforded under the Constitution.
“Not only did we lose the election, we have also lost a sense of understanding of what it means to be together,” Echevarria said. “That our struggle is tied to one another, whether you’re undocumented, whether you are a woman, a man, queer, trans, children, the working poor.”
Addis, who helped lead the Women’s March in 2017, told The Tribune she was elated to see people come together again to speak out against the Trump Administration.
“I don’t think we knew that he was going to come back and it was going to get worse,” she said. “He’s not alone and he is moving with a swiftness that we have to stand up to. And people are angry. They want to defend California, Californian values and Californian people.”
When the enormous crowd broke out to surround the courthouse as a visual representation of protecting our courts, Vietnam veteran Paul Worsham sat in the back of his car parked on Osos Street with a sign that read “Hands off my VA.”
“It’s disgusting to me, because any large organization can and should be able to tolerate reorganizations, but reorganization with a chainsaw makes absolutely no sense,” he said, referring to recent layoffs and cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Worsham was a radio operator during the Vietnam War, and said the VA helped him get his hearing aids. He said he’s worried on the impacts to younger veterans who rely more heavily on the VA as they are not yet old enough to receive medicare or social security benefits.
Protest gives Cal Poly student hope for the future
Meanwhile, the event was 21-year-old Cal Poly student Joshua Mathew’s first protest.
He said he decided to attend because he isn’t happy with how the Trump administration has affected the country.
“Just seeing the state this country is in, it hurts me,” he said. “The mindset these people have and just how clouded everything has become and how willing they are to throw away basic humanity against other people with no empathy — I think it needs to stop.”
He said he didn’t expect such a large turnout it San Luis Obispo, and it made him more hopeful for the future. He said he doesn’t see a lot of voices against Trump online, so it was good to be a part of the crowd.
“It makes me feel proud, because I have not been feeling very happy to be an American recently,” he said. “This is making me feel better.”
Mathew encouraged more young people to organize and attend protests.
“Honestly, I’m not sure what we can do except just make our voices heard,” he said. “Strength in numbers. If there’s enough people that want to make a change, then it will have to happen.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2025 at 4:03 PM.
