I don't always agree with Sherry Wolf (or with anyone always, of course) but the comments below seem to me about right. In Portland, there were, by at least one count, 50,000 (so, proportionately a better turnout than NYC). Many were masked, and I appreciate all those protecting everyone's health in the crowd.
Important to remember also that in discussing 'nonviolent' protests, the violence generally comes from the police, so the peacefulness, some have suggested, comes from police having underestimated turnout (and thus being unprepared for encountering the crowd) or indifference to the actions of old white people likely to go home after the march.
I've heard that there are nationwide calls for further marches April 19 & May 1, but have not seen anything definite for PDX. There is, however, an upcoming meeting April 12 dedicated to building long-term alliances--not just mobilizing people to protest but organizing to gain positive changes. Portland Rising: The Power of Coalition from Jobs with Justice & others: Saturday, April 12, 2025 10:00 AM-12:00PM at P.A.T. Hall, 345 NE 8th Ave., Portland, OR 97232. Wheelchair accessible; Masks required and provided. https://actionnetwork.org/events/portland-rising-the-power-of-coalition
Sherry Wolf posts:
5 takeaways from April 5th in NYC:
- 100,000 came out—mostly as individuals and not organized in groups, folks who don’t usually or ever protest on a day the city’s far left leadership was in DC for the massive Palestine protest there. Notably, thousands in NYC wore keffiyehs & carried signs about Gaza, it’s too intertwined with our national disaster to be scrubbed from an NYC protest
- Multigenerational, but skewed whiter and a bit older than NYC overall, indicating both the silos we’re in and that it was disproportionately citizens who don’t fear deportation but loss of careers, social security, Medicare, etc. these were downwardly mobile middle- and working-class people with something to lose
- The politically broad but hollow call to action—“Hands Off”— meant that the momentary vacuum could be filled by individuals or small groups putting forward chants and slogans for others, which is what I did on the march from the subway and later with union comrades for more than an hour outside the library raising explicitly anti-fascist, pro-trans and immigrant and unite and fight type chants and got tens of thousands to vigorously take them up while marching past; others did this along the way, too!
- Leftists need to learn what a united front means in practice—the denunciations online of the vacuousness of a “Hands Off” call are unhelpful; possibly 1 million people nationally turned out because they’re scared and want to find a way to fight—we need to put forward and fight for political positions inside these formations, not denounce them
- Mass actions raise the prospect of mass strikes; union leaders need to start organizing strike calls with Black, queer and immigrant groups—days of action, walk-ins, walkouts, rolling strikes—which can’t be summoned the same way as a call to action in a moment of extreme fear rage.
ANONYMOUS Speaks on the Protests #April5 #anonymous #april5th
https://www.reddit.com/r/50501/comments/1jst1uc/comment/mlp0e68/
On April 5, 5.2 million people across the country stood up to say HANDS OFF our democracy.
We are committed to building our peaceful People’s Movement and achieving 3.5% participation. History shows that when just 3.5% of the population engages in sustained, peaceful resistance—transformative change is inevitable.
Follow to join our Movement, and save the date for our next national day of action on April 19th.
#50501movement #PeoplesMovement #FiftyFiftyOne #50501 #April5 #HandsOff
so much creativity - I love it
That's how we Do! That's American. Expressing ourselves
kind of felt like yesterday was a mental health day! a lot of people voiced that openly! not those exact words but ...
April 5: Millions Take to the Streets for a National Day of Action
#april5 $#HandsOff #Democracy #demonstration #TheContrarian
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/april-5-millions-take-to-the-streets
#HandsOff in pictures: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2025/apr/05/anti-trump-hands-off-worldwide-protests showing the amazing #creativity of the protests.
"When you have a popular-resistance strategy and an effective legislative strategy, it wins more than two-thirds of the time.": https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/05/trump-hands-off-protest
#April5 #HandsOff #uspol #democracy #RMOL #UK
More UK coverage from Sky News. At the end of this report Trump’s press secretary unsurprisingly claims Trump isn’t listening. Maybe not, but the rest of the world is.
The fact Trump may attempt to modify the system in order to extend his presidential term (journalistically known as “pulling a Putin”) is a massive red flag. Consequently, these protests are very important and really do count…
https://news.sky.com/story/thousands-protest-against-trump-and-musk-at-rallies-in-every-us-state-13343002
They will minimize it. Mock it. Insist there’s no point.
But we know.
Next round on #May1.
If everyone who protested today brings one more person…BOOM.
#April5 #HandsOff #Syracuse #democracy
Photo by N. Scott Trimble.
Two friends were here. Fucking Corydon, Indiana, in the Indiana Trump belt. Y'all.
Just got back from the protest in Boston #april5 #handsoff #ChunderRoad
At Hands Off protest in San Jose with thousands of neighbors! We just started marching to City Hall. #April5 #50501movement #HandsOff #HandsOff2025 #SanJose #SantaClaraCounty #democracy #trump #musk
Heading out to any in-person actions or #protest today?
Now is a good time to brush up on your rights before you go. There’s a reason this is my top video on YouTube! #handsoff #April5 #resist
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5kWlIsgCzMo&dp_isNewTab=1&dp_referrer=youtube&dp_allowFirstVideo=1
Official count just came in at 4000.
Massive turnout in this rusty, run down, bone chilled, beautiful city.