Maureen Pastorius became one of an estimated more than 6,000 people who gathered in downtown Pittsburgh on Saturday for a protest and march that was part of a nationwide call to action against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Pastorius, 72, of Pleasant Hills came to the “Hands Off!” rally carrying a sign that read, “No sign is big enough to list why I’m here.”

“I disagree with absolutely everything that Trump and Musk are doing, and I believe they are a true threat to our democracy,” she said. “If we don’t act now, we won’t have a democracy in four years.”

Her friend, Linda Grusch, 73, of Oakdale, agreed.

“There’s not one thing he does I’m for. Nothing,” she said. “I hope Congress wakes up.”

More than 1,200 “Hands Off!” events were planned by more than 150 groups across all 50 states, according to The Associated Press. One was also held at the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg, where about 600 attended.

The Pittsburgh rally was co-hosted by Indivisible Pittsburgh and a coalition of grassroots partners. The estimated turnout was better than double the 2,500 organizers knew had registered.

“We are deeply grateful to the thousands of people who turned out today to stand up for democracy and our neighbors,” said Dana Kellerman, an organizer for Indivisible Pittsburgh. “We are building a movement too big to ignore, and we are just getting started.”

The crowd began assembling at the City-County Building on Grant Street before the 12:30 start and stayed for about two hours as they chanted and listened to several speakers, including former Democratic U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb.

Lamb, a Marine Corps veteran, said Trump is disrespecting Americans who serve their nation in its armed forces and then go on to continue serving in capacities such as teachers, nurses, letter carriers and prison guards.

“This country is great because of the people who serve it,” Lamb said. “Donald Trump is a taker. That is all he has ever been.”

Despite taking an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, Lamb said, Trump acts every day like it does not exist.

He encouraged the crowd to say “no” to tariffs, firing essential workers, arresting students whose opinions the government does not like and sending people to prisons in El Salvador, a likely reference to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, whom a federal judge on Friday ordered Trump’s administration to bring back after he was mistakenly deported.

“This is a democracy. In a democracy, we tell the truth and we care about each other,” Lamb said. “Will we let Donald Trump take away this democracy? It belongs to us. It does not belong to him.”

The absence of the state’s Democratic senator, John Fetterman, was noted by the crowd that chanted, “Where is Fetterman?”

Fetterman was in Washington, D.C., where he said he voted against the 2025 budget resolution that passed the Senate on party lines after Republicans blocked 19 amendments to protect Medicaid, Medicare and nutrition benefits; address the economic fallout of Trump’s tariff orders; and reign in DOGE’s takedown of the federal workforce.

“I will never support any bill that strips Medicaid, Medicare, or SNAP benefits from Americans to bankroll tax cuts for billionaires,” Fetterman said in a statement. “Pennsylvania deserves better than this and I’ll keep fighting for a government that serves the people, not special interests.”

Alica Grishman, a disability activist and founder of Access Mob Pittsburgh, has multiple sclerosis and spoke from her wheelchair. She compared herself and other disabled people to the canaries that were once used to alert miners of dangerous carbon monoxide in coal mines.

For herself, Grishman said Medicaid is the oxygen she needs to live.

“Without Medicaid, I will die,” she said. “Medicaid covers so much for me.”

While there are categories of vulnerable people many will never join, the disabled is one anyone can join at any time, increasingly so as they get older, she said. Those with disabilities are the canaries in the coal mine.

“Even if don’t use Medicaid, you’ll miss it when it’s gone,” she said. “I’m tired of being a canary, and I’m starting to choke.”

Alliyson Feldmann, a storyteller for Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania and Free & Just, said she had to move from rural New York State to Allegheny County for care after suffering a stroke while pregnant.

“You shouldn’t have to uproot your life and move to another state to get basic human rights,” she said. “I had to fight for my own life.”

Miracle Jones, director of policy and advocacy at 1Hood Media, spoke in defense of immigrants and refugees, including those from Ukraine who have been told to present themselves for deportation.

“If they come for me tonight, they’ll come for you in the morning,” she said.

Solidarity, Jones said, means showing up and being there when others are under attack.

“None of us deserve to have our rights taken away. Trump is coming for each and every single one of us,” she said. “All of us can lose our due process rights, not just protesters.”

Beth Mikus, president of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Coalition of Labor Union Women, accused Trump of dismantling public services people rely on and busting unions.

“It doesn’t feel like three months. It feels like three years,” she said. “We’re ready to fight. When we fight, we win.”

Mitch Kates, executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, encouraged those in the crowd to not wait for the midterm elections in 2026, but to get active in this year’s election, which includes three state Supreme Court seats on the ballot.

He saw signs of momentum in Democrats picking up a state Senate seat in a Lancaster County district that strongly supported Trump, and the victory of the Democratic-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court over a challenger endorsed by Trump and Musk.

“Politics is about showing up,” he said. “We got work to do.”

The rally was the fourth this year for Crystal Reyo, 44, of Baldwin Borough. Her sign read, “Ikea has better cabinets.”

“I think the crowds are growing,” she said. “More people are waking up to the facts. I think they need to be bigger.”

A mother of six, Reyo said she worries for her children and her parents, who are on Social Security. She said she attended “Hands Off!” to stop the nation’s social system from being gutted.

“Our economy is tanking, stocks are down, people’s 401ks are getting demolished — nothing looks good,” she said.

Alicia Wolf, 62, held a sign borrowing a line from Sen. Corey Booker saying that this is a “moral moment,” and “It’s not left or right, it’s right or wrong.”

Her hope is that “the people who have the power in the Senate and the House will stand for the people.”

“Everybody is being impacted, and it’s not positive,” she said.

Paula Jernigan, 56, of Fox Chapel said the nation is turning into an oligarchy. Dressed as the Statue of Liberty, she held a sign that said, “Give me your tired & poor! You can keep DOGE.”

“Trump thinks he’s a king and he’s working for Putin and his billionaire friends,” she said.“He’s not working for the people.”

Her hope seemed obvious to her.

“I want any senators and congress people with spines to see what the people really want and expect from them, to do the right thing, of course,” she said.

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