MONTPELIER — Thousands of people crowded the Statehouse green and overflowed onto the street below the golden dome on Saturday for the largest planned demonstration in Vermont against President Donald Trump since he took office again.
Geri Peterson, an organizer of the Vermont rally with the decentralized activist network 50501, said the expected turnout for the rally in Montpelier was 6,000 people, but that crowd amassed to an estimated 10,000 people.
“This is a bipartisan moment where we need Republicans and Democrats. It’s everybody that needs to be fighting against the oligarchy that’s trying to take over our country,” Peterson said. “Trump support is eroding as a direct reflection of the fact that the American public does not support any decisions he’s made since becoming president.”
From Bennington to Newport, Vermonters gathered at more than two dozen planned demonstrations around the state under the “Hands-Off” banner, a national effort to mobilize peaceful protests against the Trump administration and the president’s policies.
Peterson said the “Hands-Off” satellite rallies in Vermont and around the country may indicate an “inflection point” for the support of the president. She added that recent political actions also demonstrate this shift, such as New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker’s 25-hourlong speech rebuking Trump’s actions and the Senate voting in favor of a measure to call off some of Trump’s tariffs on Canada, with some Republican support.
Among the crowd in Montpelier, Rose Loiselle, a University of Vermont Medical Center nurse from South Burlington, said she was motivated to protest because she was concerned about the threats to public health care and to democracy.
“I’m grateful for the numbers coming out to show that we do not agree with what’s happening to our country and our constitution,” Loiselle said.
The lineup of speakers at the Montpelier rally included former Gov. and U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Kunin; U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.; Lt. Gov. John Rodgers; Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast; state Treasurer Mike Pieciak; and other Vermont activists and organizational leaders.
Welch spoke to his concerns about the threats to democracy, deportations without due process, threats to Medicaid and Social Security funding, and the dismantling of federal agencies and departments during Trump’s second term.
“This president we have is on a lawless rampage, shredding the Constitution,” Welch said. “We are here today standing up for hope and democracy.”
Several thousand people march after a “Hands Off” rally in Montpelier on Saturday. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Standing at the podium, Rodgers spoke to what he said were nonpartisan concerns regarding the Trump administration’s actions, such as cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and recently imposed tariffs on Canada, which he said will negatively impact Vermonters.
“As a Republican who supports women’s rights, the LBGTQ community, local farmers and loggers, our manufacturers and other great Vermont businesses, the free press, the United States Constitution and the rule of law, I am appalled at what the Trump administration is doing to our state and our country,” Rodgers said, according to his notes, provided to VTDigger by a 50501 organizer. “It is time that the Republicans in Congress stand up for their constituents instead of following the will of their president.”
Kunin stood before the crowd with a hopeful message for Vermonters coming together to protest on the rainy spring day.
“We still have a big battle ahead, and we have to persevere,” Kunin said “You have to have imagination. You have to have optimism to believe that things can change, and you could be the agent of change.”
Ram Hinsdale said she was concerned about the rollback of abortion rights and voting rights as well as attacks on immigrants and transgender people. She encouraged those at the rally to organize in their communities and connect with neighbors.
“We will continue to demand our country back because, let’s be clear, it has never been more consequential to exercise our freedom of speech than it is right now,” Ram Hinsdale said. “While we demand hands off our rights and our dignity, we must also be hands on with our communities.”
In Brattleboro, U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., addressed roughly 1,500 people who marched from downtown’s Centre Congregational Church to the nearby Common.
“Many of us are feeling angry. We’re feeling anxious, and we’re worried about the state of our nation,” Balint said before traveling to another rally in Middlebury. “I know all too many folks are feeling paralyzed by the sheer number of things that are coming at us. But we can’t let it stop our courage.”
In Rutland, an estimated 600 to 700 people held signs along the central corner of Main and West streets. Organizer David Coppock said protests for other causes typically draw no more than 25 to 50 locals.
“I’ve never seen anything here on this scale before,” Coppock said.
