An estimated 6,000 people showed up Downtown on Saturday, April 5 in a nationwide “Hands Off!” rally protesting President Donald Trump. “Liberation Day” tariffs, mass federal layoffs, student activist crackdowns and deportations to El Salvador prisons were just a few of the many issues protesters voiced in the rally.
Over 1,200 other protests under the same movement took place across the United States the same day. Pittsburgh’s was organized by Indivisible, a leftist political action organization. Among the speakers were Mayor Ed Gainey and former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb. Sen. John Fetterman was not present, but instead stayed in D.C. to vote against a budget resolution.
At the same time as the “Hands Off” protest outside the City Council building in Downtown, another protest part of the ongoing “50501 Movement” took place at Schenley Plaza on April 5 under the slogan “remove, reverse, reclaim.” Much of the talking points were similar between both protests, such as going against mass layoffs occurring in federal jobs, tariffs and Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).” Speakers at the “50501” protest said the movement is for people of all political beliefs who disagree with the Trump administration’s direction and said this will not be the last protest against the current administration.
