Nearly 12,000 ‘Hands Off!’ The demonstrators of downtown San Diego, walking against Trump and Musk-San Diego Union-Tribune

Thousands of opponents of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk obstructed the streets of downtown San Diego on Saturday, walking, singing and waving panels protesting against administration actions on a multitude of issues that included government reduction efforts, immigration policy and LGBTQ +problems.

“This is the only tool that we have to get up, to see, to hear,” said one of the participants, Jay Duchnick, an authorized 60 -year -old nurse in North Park.

The San Diego police service estimated the size of the crowd at 12,000 people.

The march, which started around noon at the Civic Center Plaza, just outside the town hall, seemed to gain in number over the demonstration.

When the front of the demonstration reached its final destination at the Hall of Justice at the corner of Broadway and State Street, walkers were able to take around 15 square blocks.

Lynn Favor of North Park, a retired computer software director, said that she was encouraged by the size of the crowd who presented walkers singing slogans such as “it is what democracy is like” and waving handmade panels that explode Trump and Musk.

“I think that walking allows other knowledge, who also think that what is going on does not feel good, that there are a lot of people with you,” said Favor. “And I appreciate the opportunity to shout my feelings.”

No counter-removal has been observed and no incident of violence or vandalism has been reported, according to the San Diego police.

The rally was part of a “ts-off! “National. Movement which has seen demonstrations in more than 1,200 locations in the 50 states as well as Washington, DC The national demonstrations were directed by a coalition of groups, largely coordinated by indivisible, described on its website as a basic organization “with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy and defeat the Trump agenda.”

Richard Cannon, of the County of North Indivisible, San Diego, said that the message from the city center rally to the demonstrators was: “Your voice counts. Your elected representatives do not save you. You must introduce yourself and save yourself. “

In the county of San Diego, similar demonstrations took place in Encinitas, Rancho Bernardo, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Borgo Springs.

A few hundred people bordered the Rancho Bernardo Drive blocks, applauding and drawing a choir of Klaxons from the passing drivers. It was an intergenerational manifestation, attracting younger young people and adults. Several demonstrators agitated American flags.

The Oceanside Police Department did not report any problem with the Oceanide demonstration. About 400 people attended the enclosure rally, without any noted disturbance, according to the Bureau du Sheriff du Comté de San Diego.

The gathering of the city center has attracted a host of elected democrats at the national, state and local levels.

“This is not what people voted for,” said representative Scott Peters. “They did not vote at higher prices. They did not vote for the disruption of peace and prosperity that we have built with this country for eight decades, not voted to finance science and did not vote to fold the truth.

Representative Sara Jacobs said that she was “delighted to see how many San Diegans turned out to make their voices heard and ensure that we are working against this administration which tries to empty programs on which so much, like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

When he was asked that Trump produced that his administration will not reduce the social benefits, Medicare or Medicaid, Jacobs said: “I hope it is true, but the president says a lot, then the republicans of the Congress go ahead and do it anyway.”

The member of the Municipal Council of San Diego, Sean Elo-Rivera, has spoken out against the immigration and expulsion actions of Trump, saying that the administration raped regular procedure.

“If someone violates the law, he violates the law, but what we have seen in recent weeks, there is no way to know if people have violated the law,” said Elo-Rivera. “We have people who are legally authorized to be in the United States who are torn from their communities and far from their family. If it’s not wrong, I don’t know what it is. “

The demonstrators also directed their anger against Musk, the CEO billionaire of Tesla and Spacex, who played an active role in the Trump administration at the head of the Ministry of Efficiency of the newly created government.

Musk and his Doge team have a declared objective of reducing the bloating of the federal government, but the criticisms claim that the actions of the Advisory Council have been sloppy and have led to dismissals and cancellations of precious government contracts, which aroused a wave of proceedings.

Lucia, 71, from San Diego, who did not want to disclose her last name, held a sign that said: “No one loves you, F-Elon! Back to Mars!”

“He thinks he has the right to destroy everyone’s life just because he has money,” she said.

Musk has become a political lightning rod. A national survey published Wednesday by the Marquette Law School survey indicated that 58% of respondents disapproved of Musk’s work in Doge and 60% consider it unfavorably on a personal level.

DOGE officials defend their work, pointing to studies such as that of the US government’s accounting office, which estimated that the federal government has lost up to $ 521 billion per year to fraud between 2018 and 2022.

“What type of person does not support the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse in public spending that end up costing taxpayers more?” The White House published on its website on March 11.

The writers of the staff of the Union-Tribune, Kristen Taketa and Gary Robbins, contributed to this story.

Originally published: April 5, 2025 at 6:52 p.m.