Photo Essay: Hands Off Rally – National Mall

by Larry Janezich

Posted April 6, 2025

An Anti-Trump “Hands Off” rallies occurred in all 50 states on Saturday.  The “Hands Off” rally on the National Mall was centered at the Sylvan Theater but much of the Mall and the grounds of the Washington Monument was occupied by demonstrators.  At 2:00pm the rally was scheduled to end and the crowd had begun to thin a little.  Organizers had said it might go a bit longer. 

There were streams of departing participants lining up to board the Metro at the Smithsonian stop and on Independence Avenue hundreds of people were headed for the Metro.  But there was a sea of people still on the grounds of the Washington Monument and speakers were still addressing the crowd. 

The crowd in front of the Sylvan Theater was so dense that organizers were stationed to direct people pressing toward the stage that it was too crowded and asked people who were approaching the stage to go back the way they came and climb the hill toward the Monument for a view of the theater.    

From the base of the Washington Monument, one could see that the crowd extended toward the Capitol Building.

The crowd was multi-generational and the mood was friendly as people seemed reassured by the willingness of such a large number of protesters to turn out – a crowd much larger than anticipated by organizers.  Originally, the number of estimated attendees was 20,000 – projected from the number of responses to organizers’ request that participants register.  Later, organizers said the number of attendees was five times the expected number.  It was apparent from the large numbers of people still on the Mall at 2:00pm that the expected number had been vastly exceeded. 

Some wore costumes – including Abe Lincoln and the Statue of Liberty – or carried protest signs and banners and flew the United States flag as a distress signal. 

There were individuals, couples, families, and groups of friends.  There were a few people with dogs and a few couples with infants in baby carriages.  There were small individual demonstrations everywhere throughout the crowd. Here’s some video of one of them.

Here’s a list of sponsoring organizations.  https://handsoff2025.com/about-1